Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, seeing as there's extra time, I thought I ask my friend the Minister of Finance if she what she's going to do to support the mining industry here in the Northwest Territories. She's got the money. We need some tax credits. Has the Minister reviewed the submission the prebudget submission that the chamber of of the NWT Chamber and Nunavut Chamber of Mines has put forward to the federal government for a North of 60 tax credit? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been a Minister that's been advocating in support of a North of 60 tax credit now for the mineral resource industry for four now going on five years. I have done so alongside Ministers from Nunavut and the Yukon as well and have done so at the finance table as well as at the mineral resource tables that I have been sitting at under previous iterations as well as the Minister of Infrastructure responsible for energy and for regional energy initiatives. So we'll certainly try to find further opportunities to do that.
I can say, Mr. Speaker, that to date, the federal government has not been receptive but hope spring's eternal. Thank you.
And I'm glad to see the Minister spring into action to support our mineral's industry.
Mr. Speaker, if the federal government's not going to fund it, what are we going to do? What tax credits and incentives can the Northwest Territories offer to our exploration industry to make it more to level the playing field with other jurisdictions? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mineral exploration tax credit is a flowthrough tax credit tool that's used, and it's not one that would be effective here. We don't have the sort of financial institutions and large-scale investors that would make it useful as a tax tool from the Northwest Territories. We really are looking at the federal government where for them, in our view, there would be no revenue losses. It would be an opportunity to really just create this opportunity for more investment in the North and for an incentive to invest in the North.
To look more generally at what can be done to incentivize investment in the Northwest Territories financially, I mean there certainly are programs that are run obviously through the department of my colleague to my left, of ITI, and, you know, always be looking at different opportunities across a whole of government, but there's a lot that we can do, you know, within the fiscal sustainability strategy that we do have to look at what's effective. So looking at some of the programs and services that we offer, looking at ensuring that we make those programs and services effective, everything from tax credits and the mineral incentive policy to also the kind of direct engagement that you'll see where we had multiple Ministers attending at Roundup recently, meeting directly, sitting down, listening to the proponents, and making sure they know that they have an opportunity to see ways to fit through the system here in the Northwest Territories. That's something we can offer, and that's something that we are doing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I recognize that we are we are a small jurisdiction in the global field of the minerals industry. We do have a great program, the Mineral Incentive Program. The Minister talked about it. Will she triple the Mineral Incentive Program? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a nice little opportunity to note that unlike other systems where a Minister of Finance might actually create the budget for the government, in our system I don't actually create the budget for the Northwest Territories government, Mr. Speaker. The financial management board, which is all Ministers, sit together. I chair it. But I actually don't even vote at it, Mr. Speaker. I bring people together. I'm responsible for the policy, responsible for the management, but every department does come forward with their incentives, with their initiatives, with their asks, with forced growth. All Ministers are part of financial management board and the decisionmaking that goes into it. But, again, in terms of speaking to industry and wanting them to know that certainly from the perspective of Finance, very live to what's happening to our GDP, very live to what's happening to the potential for revenues that come into the Government of the Northwest Territories, and want the industry to realize that this is a good place to invest, that they have a government that's wanting to work with them and that's going to help them find ways to see good return on their investment here. Thank you.
Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. And I know our friend, the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, is a big supporter of this program. So I'll ask will the Minister in her capacity as a Member of Cabinet, a Member of this consensus government, lend her support to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment to increase the total amount of Mineral Incentive Program to at least double, if not triple? Thank you.
(audio) anywhere else, Mr. Speaker. So while we've gone down from tripling to doubling, Mr. Speaker, all the initiatives come through together. So the first step, of course, is the development of the mandate, which as done by Cabinet, but certainly involves review and input from Members, and then with that we'll go through the process of the budget establishment, and that includes once we've got that mandate we can look at initiatives. Initiatives are meant to actually then support the mandate. Obviously one of our four key items is economic growth, and the mineral resource industry continues to be the driver of the private sector in the Northwest Territories. So, Mr. Speaker, whether it's this initiative or whether it's another, certainly Cabinet and the Department of Finance, as part of Cabinet and the leader from the perspective of the financial management board, Mr. Speaker, we need to achieve that mandate. It includes economic growth. What that's going to do, we'll have to wait until the main estimates in June to find out. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Please and thank you. Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
