Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement, I spoke about the importance of defending Canada's sovereignty and making sure the Northwest Territories is one of the leaders in that effort. Arctic defense spending has become a national subject of -- or subject of national interest, especially from those who want to be our next Prime Minister. The leader of the opposition has pledged to build a military base in Iqaluit. Next door, our neighbours in Yukon have established a security advisory council, and they've already been successful in finding some federal funding as well. We can't wait for the federal dollars to come to the North because other people are going out to get them. So what is the Premier doing to ensure we have a robust security and sovereignty strategy that brings federal dollars, federal investments into the Northwest Territories, not only for the jobs and the growth but for the safety that our residents deserve? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when we started this term, Canadian sovereignty and Arctic security weren't on the tops of our list of priorities given that, you know, those are federal mandates; however, they've come to the forefront of discussions all across Canada and especially here in the Northwest Territories. And so a lot of the work that we have been doing actually feeds directly into the notions of sovereignty and security. By advocating for the Mackenzie Valley Highway and putting that infrastructure in place, that is increasing our sovereignty, assuring our security. And that was referenced by Minister Blair in interviews he's done subsequent to the announcement that investment in infrastructure in the North is an assertion of sovereignty. And so we put work into projects like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, like the Taltson Hydro Expansion. We've been putting work into critical minerals. I've been working with my colleagues, particularly the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on ensuring that our regulatory system is as efficient as it possibly can be. And, of course, critical minerals are important to Canada's security, Canada's sovereignty, and, you know, North American security ideally but given the current situation, we are focusing on Canada.
I've had a number of conversations with Minister Blair, the Minister of National Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister Joly, Minister Leblanc, all centered around this topic. So we have already been doing the work and we are putting together -- I don't want to say a strategy but we're putting together some guiding -- a guiding document perhaps on how we're going to move forward addressing these issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate those conversations but, I mean, we're asking them to invest in what we're already doing. I mean, we had a Prime Minister -- Prime Minister Harper came here every year and apart from a few big projects here and there that some Members are very familiar with, we didn't get much for it. We're still underfunded. We still need more infrastructure. So what we're looking for here is defense spending, and that's still something we're only starting to see trickle out. We do have the leader of the opposition pledging to build bases in other northern jurisdictions. So can we have a focus on Arctic defense spending as one of the items of an updated federal engagement strategy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would say that when we engage the federal government, we want to package our asks in a way that is going to be palatable for them, in a way that they are going to want to consume. And Arctic security, Arctic sovereignty, is very sellable right now to the federal government, and so the Member can rest assured that it has been and will continue to be a major component of how we engage the federal government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, allow war packaging that way but unfortunately these projects -- else I'm mistaken, and I invite the Honourable Premier to correct me, but these don't count toward our NATO -- or 2 percent of GDP NATO spending. They don't count. So what I'm trying to do is if we're moving to 2 percent, or maybe even 3 percent now, if we're going the way Europe's going, to divert some of those, if not most of those dollars, into the Northwest Territories. So defense spending is crucial. It's more nuanced than just repackaging our current asks. So can we get a commitment to advance defense spending and specifically tie it to these increases that are coming from our NATO commitments, tie that to the Northwest Territories. And even if the Premier wants to go and speak to the other northern territories and develop a tri-territorial plan or pan-northern plan, I don't care, but let's get some of that money flowing here and make it specific to defense because, again, those projects we're advancing are not -- do not count towards that 2 percent. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if we're speaking specifically about defense infrastructure, that's something we have to leave up to the military. I don't have the wherewithal to tell the military where they should build a base to best deter the Russians or anything like that. That being said, we -- I've been having conversations, as I mentioned earlier. I spoke with Minister Blair earlier this week and I said that, you know, it's important that we are involved when they are putting their mind towards military spending. If there's going to be an expansion of, say, in Inuvik of the military presence, well, we might need to upgrade the water treatment plant, we might need more childcare, we might need other types of infrastructure that would generally be municipal or territorial, and so ensuring that that happens. And so we are working with the federal government to ensure that when they decide on how they're going to spend this money for their military installations that we are going to be part of those discussions and that Northerners and northern companies and Indigenous governments will all benefit. So, you know, I could go on and on about this; perhaps I'll just leave it at that. Thank you.
Oh, I remember what I was going to say. The announcement as well, from Minister Blair, was not just an announcement of the forward operating support hub locations but also an increase in the amount of money going towards those facilities. So we've already seen a significant increase in the commitment of the federal government on defense spending in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Mr. Clerk.
