Rylund Johnson

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. In addition, in that July report, you know, it kind of just says the work to create an Indigenous Procurement Policy is ongoing, there's no kind of timeline on there. I'm wondering if we have any sense of I know that's not going to be done in in the next week, but is there any hope of us getting that done in some sort of timeline, or will we have an Indigenous Procurement Policy as a government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really do not like leaving things to the next Assembly. I think if you look at the last Assembly's mandate, a lot of the things that were very close, and it's clear hundreds of hours of staff time went into them and, you know, there was perhaps some last minute disagreement. Never got done. We didn't take them on. They didn't make it into our mandate. And all of that work disappeared. There's quite a few things in our mandate that I'm sure the next Assembly will let die as well. I'm hoping that the Business Incentive Policy is not one of them. So my question is for...

Yeah, thank you. Can I just confirm I think before that this was money administered on behalf of others and then we changed the financial reporting, and it shows up this way. And essentially we're just holding this money for the communities and these fluctuations are based on how we get it out the door, is that correct? Thank you.

Yeah, I understand we've been asking the federal government for money for this so they must have a guess of what it's going to cost. And actually at one point, the Minister Vandal said that the money was very close. Like, he almost said he was giving it to us. I think it was coming out of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. So I'm assuming the feds know how much the project costs. And I mean, I don't know how they can if we haven't picked a route but they must know something. Are the feds giving us any money for Taltson any time soon, or did that kind of disappear with this whole first we have to...

Thank you. You know, I think this requires a very fulsome public debate. How much are we selling the power for? How much power are we selling? How long how many mines do we need to exist to buy it? What's the payback? You know, what is what are these projects doing in other jurisdictions? How much are their cost overruns? How much is it roughly going to cost? I just can't believe I'm being asked for money without any of that information. I guess can I have how much money right now is the government asking for this Taltson Expansion preconstruction? Thank you.

Yeah, you know, I don't want it in confidence. I think this is just completely undemocratic. We're heading into an election, and the next Assembly has to make the decision to do the same thing we did where you put the three major infrastructure projects in your mandate or to pick one. And there's strong arguments on either side. You know, there is some argument the way you get these built is you just kind of always keep them on the books and you play the lottery with the feds and, you know, you try and get the money based on what their priorities are. There's also an argument that maybe we...

Thank you. I see we have some preconstruction engineering regulatory activities for Taltson Expansion preconstruction. Do we have a rough cost estimate of what we think the Taltson Expansion will cost? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its report on the review of the 20202021 and 20212022 Annual Reports of the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha, that Committee Report 7319(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 20202021 and 20212022 Annual Reports of the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 92, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 3.

Bill 92 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on June 1st, 2023, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. The committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Finance on June 27th, 2023. On July 28th, 2023, committee held a clausebyclause review.

Mr. Speaker, the committee reports that Bill 92, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 3, is ready for...

Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its report on the review of the 20212022 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha, that Committee Report 7219(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report of the Review of the 20212022 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.