Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Mr. Speaker, in the previous sitting of the Assembly in October, I asked the Minister about the ongoing issue of targeted amendments to the waters regulations. The Minister committed to come back to the House with a timeline for Members. I'm just wondering, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister has an update for the House today on that process. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the issue around water regulations has certainly been a topic of much conversation over the past number of months since the last sitting, and I'm very happy to stand here today and, you know, report to this House that right now, ECC has received approval from Cabinet and the IGCS to proceed with the appraised approach to amend the Waters Act and the water regulations with Phase 1 be the targeted approach to making amendments that were suggested by the land and water board, some of the Indigenous governments and the Chamber of Mines. We're currently in the process of working toward planning those meetings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that news from the Minister. That certainly is encouraging. Can the Minister give us an idea of what kind of a timeline we're looking at for this. He did commit to give that to me in the previous sitting of the House. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, we're -- like I said earlier, we're in the planning stages, and we are targeting to have a more concrete plan available in the spring that we'll be able to deliver at the next meeting of the Mackenzie Valley operational dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, is the department planning to run this process through the operational dialogue, or are they going to be running the process themselves? It's becoming a bit unclear to me how this is going to play out, what the expected timeline is. I just want to remind the House and the Minister that the idea of doing targeted amendments was to get it done quickly if possible. Just looking for some more clarity on how this process is going to play out and hoping to get some kind of indication from the Minister that we might be able to see the changes come forward within the year. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now ECC is in the planning stages with the IGCS technical working group to advance the amendments to the targeted amendments to the water regulations, and it certainly is an area of high priority. We certainly, you know, want this to happen very, very quickly, and it is a process that will happen outside in the Mackenzie Valley operational dialogue, but we are definitely pushing forward to get that work done as quickly as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
