Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. I wouldn't be in a position to speak to what might be coming down the pipes here. I turn it to Dr. Kelly, please.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm hesitant to try to stand and draw comparisons to the Yukon, and the reason is this: This Mineral Resource Act regulations was the first resource first of all of the projects in the Northwest Territories land and natural resources sector that relied on the Intergovernmental Council process. There were a lot of lessons learned on what that process could look like, how it could work. In the end, it's actually and my understanding from reading the summary report that I've seen is that the technical working group composed of the Intergovernmental Council...

Madam Chair, that is a huge question. It's a huge question that comes in light of the fact that, you know, again, this was this was a difficult few years, and we have some projects where people work in communities for safety reasons didn't want teams come into their communities. Then we had other projects where they were not able to go into those communities. And we've had then some other projects where the supply chain has utterly disrupted our schedules and then significantly impacted on the costs.

So I'm not sure that in at the end of those three years of that nature is necessarily the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there will be changes to the royalty regime. It's part of the regulatory process that we're undergoing. Whether it will necessarily be what the Member wants or visions for it, I can't say. Obviously, the process isn't done. It's one that we are going through, and I will detail it at some length in the summary report showing the process that is followed with the Intergovernmental Council. I can say from the recent mining and Minister's or energy and mining Ministers' conference that I was at that there's been some work done at Enercan, looking at all of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Joining now at the table is Perry Heath who is the director of infrastructure and planning for the Department of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, September 29th, 2023, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that the Government of the Northwest Territories should agree to receive revenues from an excise duty in respect of the Northwest Territories as imposed as part of the federally legislated Vaping Products Excise Tax. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at a practical level, that's Department of MACA but, really, from a government fiscal perspective, I can say that the Department of Finance is looking quite closely at what we might get. There's a sliding scale for under the disaster financial assistance arrangements. That's the federal program that applies to all provinces and territories. When you get to a certain level, which we most certainly have hit, you can get up to 90 percent of eligible costs. And that's the tricky part, Mr. Speaker, is that I don't get to determine what the eligible costs are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at present, there's two programs already operational, and they were both stood during the midst of the evacuation. The first one I'll speak to out of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. We changed the SEED program that a lot of businesses that are familiar with, added on a directive relating specifically to the wildfires. Under this program at present, there is a contribution amount of up to $5,000 for eligible costs that were incurred. There's also, under the BDIC, they've also had their board brought their board together and established a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I do have some remarks I want to make that I have drafted. I do want to just start by acknowledging the frustration that it has taken a long time and we are still in the process of completing the Mineral Resource Act regulations. And through that process, without the regulations, of course, this is where we wind up in this situation we are in. And there's a very real chance at the end of the drafting of the regulations when the entire process is complete, including royalties, there may well be a process in place by which the kind of disclosure that's made...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the wildfires, the floods, COVID have certainly impacted every single sector large and small. Larger businesses might have the ability to weather it better but that certainly doesn't make it any easier. It's also impacted all levels of government and it has impacted this government.

Mr. Speaker, we can't necessarily if I could plan for a large scale natural disaster, you'd see a budget line item for you know, to plan for the large scale emergency. We aren't able to plan for a large scale emergency by virtue of the fact that it's an emergency. What we can...