Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the Premier for being part of the Team Canada response to the US tariff threat. And I'd like to ask today what the status of that approach is. Where are Canada's premiers and the Prime Minister on ensuring that we can overcome this challenge to our economic sovereignty in the next 30 days? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm sure everyone has heard that the Prime Minister spoke with President Trump yesterday -- or sorry, I believe it was Monday. They had a discussion, and President Trump said that he was going to delay the implementation of the tariffs by 30 days. And so that's where we are right now.
Across Canada, governments -- provincial and territorial governments were going to enact measures, just as ours was; for example, removing American products from the liquor stores, stopping procurement of American goods, and any other tariff measures that we can define to help support these efforts. We've paused those efforts, as I believe most jurisdictions have, but we haven't stopped preparing. So we're continuing to prepare, continuing to examine what other non-tariff options that we have, and how we can better support Team Canada. I had a call today with the Prime Minister and all of the premiers. We had one on Saturday. We had one last week. And all of the jurisdictions are doing what they can. I can tell you it's a very cohesive group despite any political differences across party lines. It is a united Team Canada approach from coast to coast to coast. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier. I mean, I'm jealous I'm not a part of those calls because it would be great to call Donald Trump's bluff and beat him at his own game. So thank you for that.
Mr. Speaker, have the Canada's premiers had a discussion about eliminating interprovincial trade barriers, getting, you know -- winning this war is one thing, but we have to build for the future. That's a big part of this. So what progress are we making on eliminating interprovincial trade barriers? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a committee in Canada that is made up of all 13 provinces and territories as well as the federal government. That's the committee on internal trade. Each year a different jurisdiction chairs that committee. Starting in 2025, the NWT is the chair of the committee on internal trade. Last week, Minister Cleveland called an emergency meeting of the committee. They met on Friday, and they brought forward recommendations. They're very high-level recommendations, but they speak to many of the things the Member is talking about. We are looking to reduce internal trade barriers across Canada in a serious way, and we're looking to increase labour mobility. And so work is underway. Both of these are issues that had been long standing in Canada, and there hasn't been the political will to actually get them dealt with. They do take a lot of work. It will take legislative change across every jurisdiction. It will take some jurisdictions giving up a sacred cow that they just don't want to, but if there ever was a political will to make that work happen, now is the time. And if we do that, even if we cut our trade barriers by half, we're going to see an impact on our Canada-wide GDP and so it's a real effort to make real change in Canada, and I'm very hopeful that we're going to see that change soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is good news as well. Mr. Speaker, another thing that this crisis has prompted is taking a look at energy security in Canada. We're talking about getting oil and gas to market -- or sorry, to ports and to finding new ports. The Northwest Territories is one of the largest supplies of oil and gas in the world. Can the Premier tell us if he is pursuing that opportunity and how we are going to unlock this resource to benefit not only Canada's security but northern security as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And probably a question more suited for the industry Minister because I know that work has been going on in this area, especially up in the Beaufort Delta region, and there's a lot of hope about what that could bring. The resource that we have right now is that a lot of the world's attention is on is critical minerals. And so I'm having lots of conversations at the first Ministers' meetings that I just mentioned as well as virtually everywhere I go, because we recognize we need secure supply chains in Canada. If there are tariffs from the United States, that disrupts supply chains. We have tariffs with China. We can't necessarily always rely on China to provide what we need. And so now is the time that we as a country need to come together and ensure that we have sustainable supply chains so that we can create prosperity for Canada. We can do mining here. We can do refining here. We can do manufacturing here. And we can have the innovation industry to develop those products that we're manufacturing. We can do it all in Canada, Mr. Speaker. And there's a real push underway right now to make that happen. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Premier withhold the NWT's critical minerals from American -- from imports or exports to America? Thank you. Tariffs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a decision of the federal government, and the federal government has said everything's on the table. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
