Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the serious need for us to reinvest in our mining economy and open it up to new degrees of exploration. So I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment will she ask or will she bring forward an FMB submission to double the Mining Incentive Program? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of ITI.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first off I appreciate the Member's enthusiasm and support of the mineral resource sector. Right now we are undergoing a little bit of a different strategy at Cabinet, not one where I'm being asked to double numbers at the moment, but I am being asked to be creative in the priorities of this government. Thank you.
Thank you. I don't want to put a price on our mining industry but it's fundamental to our economy.
Mr. Speaker, another thing that we've heard is there's too much red tape. It's a very difficult regulatory process. Will the Minister commit to making regulatory improvements that will take small scale exploration projects out of the equation and create their own rules around it so we can get these projects off the ground sooner and they don't have to deal with as much regulatory red tape? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is something that we hear quite a bit about on both sides of the table here, and so one of the things that the Minister for Environment and Climate Change and I are doing is doing bilaterals together, both between ourselves and between our staff counterparts at the official levels as well, so that we can do this work in streamlining the regulatory processes the Member is talking about.
Another thing that we're doing is we do have a spot at the Mackenzie Valley operational dialogue tables where we are purposefully discussing right sizing policy for small projects, and we also have a space at the regional energy and resource tables, along Enercan, where we're having similar conversations. So this is definitely a priority, and I look forward to continuing this conversation with the Member and my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's good news. I'd like to ask the Minister if she'll join my mission to MARS and get online map staking done by 2026 or earlier? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was reminded to slow down so my apologies to the interpreters.
Getting the MARS system and going on a journey to MARS with the Member is definitely a priority, and I look forward to continuing to find out if there are solutions to getting this done quicker. But I am also looking to make sure that it is done properly. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. And thank you to the Minister. Very good answers today, all positive; I like that.
Mr. Speaker, finally, we have an infrastructure deficit. Mines need clean energy. We can't get it to them. What's the Minister's plan? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member. This is a huge topic that is right across industry, and one of the things that we hear is one of the biggest barriers when doing business and securing investment in our territory is our infrastructure deficit. That being said, it is still an opportunity for us to be able to work together on this side of the table and, luckily, myself and the Minister of Infrastructure have a very good working relationship and both share goals of economic prosperity for the territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
