R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And Cabinet does have a position on this one because this is a recommendation for government and so when there's a recommendation for government, we do abstain. We want to ensure that we can actually look into these issues before we put a vote to it. So we'll be abstaining. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Arctic 360 conference in Toronto, Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You can be forgiven, Mr. Speaker. We've only worked together five years, come on.

Or Mr. Chair, I apologize. I'm just joking, of course. That's what happens. I get a little cheeky, and I get my comeuppance.

I just have a question, actually, and I know that it's not question period, we can't refer to questions here. But "as acquired" are the last two words here, and I was wondering what that means, "supply information as required." Is it referring to the Minister -- that witnesses may be there as required or that information may be supplied as required? I'd just like some clarity on this. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, February 7th, 2025, I will be present Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Partnership and Business Names Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, revenue royalties are under the Minister of ITI so I can't speak to that. My primary concern is getting some investment into the territory and getting some development and getting people working and, of course, doing it in a sustainable way. That's one thing that we always have to balance in the Northwest Territories. The people of the Northwest Territories, they still live on the land. They still hunt, they still fish, they still trap, and many communities supplement their incomes and their food through those methods. So while we have that consideration...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member wants to put a framework around this amorphous idea of pushing for billion-dollar opportunities, I'd be happy to have a look at that and consider how we can use that, but I'm not going to spearhead the Member's initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, the eyes of the world are on the North now and the discussions about Arctic security, defence, have taken up an inordinate amount of my time. I can say I did not expect this when I became Premier of the Northwest Territories I'd be having these national discussions and international discussions, but the fact is we are. And so what I can do from my end as a politician is talk to the politicians who are making decisions about what we need for infrastructure. And so we have provided detailed information to the federal government about the types of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, of course, I see the benefit of having Burgundy here and all of the direct employment that they provide to northerners as well as all the spinoff employment, all the services provided by contractors across the territory. So yes, we're very committed to continuing to work with industry and making the erritory -- continuously improving the territory so that it is a better place to do business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did receive a letter from Burgundy, and I did meet with the senior executives from Burgundy maybe sometime in October. Also at that meeting were the Minister of ITI and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Was the Minister of Finance there? The Minister of Finance was there as well as well as the Minister of Infrastructure. So we had a number of Ministers there. And when it comes to these types of files, I'm not the lead on the regulations on access to lands, those securities, things like that, but I felt it was important for me to attend because...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I think it's go od for me to have that very specific information, so I will look into it. I would also like to offer a briefing to the standing committee, the appropriate standing committee, on the new division and how it's going to be -- how it's going to operate and the work that is currently happening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.