R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following documents: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples Action Plan committee report -- Action Plan Report March 2026. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel certain there's no benefits to changing our clocks twice a year. It's a strange ritual that we've all gotten into, and I am anxious to get out of it. And, you know, it's a valid point, why are we still doing it. And it is because it's an ordeal to end time change. I believe the Yukon spent a significant amount of money and spent a significant amount of time working through those efforts. And so there's that reason, and then the reason because we are so closely tied to Alberta. But if Alberta moves, we are ready to go. We have legislation in place where the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's a big question because the Member's right, there's a lot going on and there's a lot that we should expect here in the territory. In terms of investments from the federal government, there's of course the DND side of things, and we've been advancing the Mackenzie Valley Highway, Arctic Economic Security Corridor, and Taltson, and lobbying hard for many years now for those. But we're at the point where we feel like we need to be shifting from lobbying to preparing and mobilizing to actually ensure that these projects get done, get done in a timely fashion, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've been honoured to be joined by a delegation today from the Tlego'hli Got'ine government. I am not quite sure all who's in the building but I will recognize the list I have here. I see President Sherry Hodgson; vice-president Heidi Hodgson; treasurer secretary Jackie MacDonald; director Laurel MacDonald; director Lisa MacDonald; chief negotiator, a former MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew; elder and community advisor Margaret MacDonald; legal counsel David Rolf; and, advisor Paul Tan. I am excited to welcome them to the Assembly for a celebration on their self-government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The only practical benefit I can see is being in alignment with Alberta as a jurisdiction where we have lots of medical travel and we do lots of trade with. Other than that, I don't see any benefit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. In 2022, the Government of the Northwest Territories put out a survey about ending time change. I think it's probably the most popular survey we've ever put out. There was about 3,000 responses in two days. 87 percent of the people who responded are in favour of ending seasonal time change. The reason that we haven't done it yet is because we are so closely tied to Alberta that we want to ensure that we can maintain the same time as them because we have lots of medical appointments, we do lots of business with Alberta, there's flights...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank the interpreters for being here with us into the wee hours of the night every single day and getting our message out to the people of the Northwest Territories. And I also wanted to remind everyone in the gallery to slow down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member snuck one by there, switching topics for the second question. But we're back on track now. The mandate letters are public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. So the question is how are we going to stimulate population growth? Well, Mr. Speaker, there's a number of reasons that, you know, someone -- many people want to move to the Northwest Territories. It's a great place to live. And if you like outdoors, if you like this kind of lifestyle, then this is a great place to be. You know, I am from Hay River, so I might not be able to go home after saying this, but Yellowknife is actually a great city. There's a lot to do here. And that being said, there are challenges. We need to make more land available for housing so that we can build more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there are capacity challenges in that, especially in the French language drafters. Drafting legislation is a very specialized skill. Not any lawyer can do it. You really have to have that background and that type of education. And as a territory, we do have a number of official languages, and because we are a creation of the federal government, we are legally required to present all legislation in both English and French. And across Canada, there are very few French language drafters, and it can often be difficult to procure those services. When we can, we go out and...