Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was happy to hear today from the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment with regard to his statement about unlocking our potential. It is really good to see that the exploration industry is having some positive upward trending numbers and some good uptake that we have not seen in a number of years.
However, with that comes concerns, and industry has shared with this government in this past some of its concerns. We listened to a number of them down at roundup last year, where they shared a list of concerns with us; Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act issues, carbon tax issues, capacity issues. I am wondering: can the Minister let us know if there has been some strong ongoing communication with industry, and have we been addressing industry's concerns? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is quite correct. There is an uptick in interest in the Northwest Territories, on the mineral resource side in particular. In the past year, since I have had this portfolio, I have had conversations with a number of proponents interested and existing ones that are here in the Northwest Territories. They have sent me numerous letters about carbon tax and the sorts of things and infrastructure needs that we need to address in this territory to make it viable.
They are quite happy that we are moving forward with our Mineral Resources Act. That is one piece of the legislation that we need to address as a territory through devolution, and we want to have a predictable northern design regulatory process to be able to address these concerns moving forward to make a viable industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his reply. The Minister touched on the development of the Mineral Resources Act. We know currently, Mr. Speaker, that the territorial government, when it comes to resource management, is guided by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.
It is something I understand that we are going to be inheriting as part of devolution come 2019. Can the Minister maybe shed a little bit more light on what the MVRMA and the new Mineral Resources Act will do for mineral resource management? Will they work in tandem? Will they be still used separately, or is our new act going to force the other one out? Can we get some explanation with regard to that?
As I have said, through devolution, a number of pieces of legislation that are coming forward actually impact the mineral resources. It is not just the Mineral Resources Act. There is the Mackenzie Valley Resource Act. There is the Lands and Water Act, carbon price, and all of these sorts of things. All of these have to work in sync together to make sure they are not conflicting with each other.
The challenge, I guess, around the Mackenzie Valley Resource Act is it is still under federal legislation. I believe the Premier has had conversations with the Prime Minister about bringing that within our portfolio, and those discussions are ongoing.
The problem with that is the Tlicho Government filed a claim against the federal government when they proposed to get ready of the Wek'eezhii Land and Water Board, and they are still in negotiations on how they were going to settle that.
The Minister indicated that there is the likelihood that we will still have the MVRMA as a component of our regulatory process. Industry has indicated in the past to this government and to the federal government for a long time a number of concerns that they have with regard to the MVRMA, a dozen or more. A few of them are very high-priority, and if this is something that we are going to inherit, is our government working with the federal government right now to address these concerns? I am sure our government is very familiar with them. Are they working with the federal government right now to address these concerns before we inherit this act?
The Member is correct. There are a number of concerns on this act moving forward, including the one I mentioned with the Tlicho Government. The Premier has asked the federal government to turn that legislation over to us so we can deal with it in our own manner for our own territory for our people, and those discussions are ongoing moving forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will just ask simply if the Minister has any timeline in which we can expect taking inheritance of that act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A five-year review was put on that, and the Premier has asked the federal government to try to advance that. That is where that is at right now presently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
