Frieda Martselos

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 31st, 2022, I will move the following motion:

I move, second by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that when this House adjourns on Thursday, March 31st, 2022, it shall be adjourned until Thursday, May the 26th, 2022.

And furthermore, that at any time prior to May 26th, 2022, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet an earlier time during the adjournment, or at a time later than the scheduled resumption...

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us what the Government of the Northwest Territories is doing to demonstrate its commitment and ability to achieve an NWT Metis Nation final agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard from many of my constituents about the rising cost of living, the reduced purchasing power for people, and the historic levels of inflation, and it affects all consumer goods. Does the Minister of Finance have a plan to address this issue and help alleviate some of these extra costs for the people of the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For.

Mr. Speaker, according to our recent budget address, the NWT's real GDP level was minus 10 percent for 2020. In fact, for three out of the previous five years, the NWT has experienced a decline in the GDP growth.

Can the Minister tell us what the government's plan is to reverse course and increase GDP growth for the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during this session, and all throughout this term for that matter, I've talked about the economy and about the need for our government to put greater emphasis on the economic recovery for the people of the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, when I talk about the economy and economic recovery from the effects of the pandemic I you refer to the economy as a whole, to all sectors, to large and small businesses alike within the NWT. We cannot focus on any single industry alone. We must consider the big picture and envision the longterm goals of what we want to achieve overall...

Well I beg to differ, Mr. Chair. Once you have an outside group owning land here in the territories, they have a right to section 35 and that means in any jurisdiction. That section 35 comes into play even if you want to open a mine and if they decide that they don't want to do that or they want to have IBAs for that or if they want to have ownership, they have that right just like any other Indigenous group in the territory, and I don't know if that has been conveyed to all the leadership in the Northwest Territories.

And when I stand here, that means it doesn't only affect Indigenous people...

On page 23, Mr. Chair, the two agreements that have been concluded are two final transboundary agreements. Are there going to be consultation with Indigenous governments within the jurisdiction of the Northwest Territories before these are ratified?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just going to make a couple comments. I just one of the comments that my one of my colleagues said about Indigenous governments.

Indigenous governments always facilitate that they always want to have control of the funds for housing. It goes back, like, 17 years now, and every time there was allocations of $59 million to the federal to the territorial government, it was just another roadblock for them to actually do to actually control the funds and do the work. So saying that because I know that's the way it was every time we met as a group.

I also want to just...