R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to thank the interpreters for being here with us into the wee hours of the night every single day and getting our message out to the people of the Northwest Territories. And I also wanted to remind everyone in the gallery to slow down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following documents: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples Action Plan committee report -- Action Plan Report March 2026. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel certain there's no benefits to changing our clocks twice a year. It's a strange ritual that we've all gotten into, and I am anxious to get out of it. And, you know, it's a valid point, why are we still doing it. And it is because it's an ordeal to end time change. I believe the Yukon spent a significant amount of money and spent a significant amount of time working through those efforts. And so there's that reason, and then the reason because we are so closely tied to Alberta. But if Alberta moves, we are ready to go. We have legislation in place where the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's a big question because the Member's right, there's a lot going on and there's a lot that we should expect here in the territory. In terms of investments from the federal government, there's of course the DND side of things, and we've been advancing the Mackenzie Valley Highway, Arctic Economic Security Corridor, and Taltson, and lobbying hard for many years now for those. But we're at the point where we feel like we need to be shifting from lobbying to preparing and mobilizing to actually ensure that these projects get done, get done in a timely fashion, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've been honoured to be joined by a delegation today from the Tlego'hli Got'ine government. I am not quite sure all who's in the building but I will recognize the list I have here. I see President Sherry Hodgson; vice-president Heidi Hodgson; treasurer secretary Jackie MacDonald; director Laurel MacDonald; director Lisa MacDonald; chief negotiator, a former MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew; elder and community advisor Margaret MacDonald; legal counsel David Rolf; and, advisor Paul Tan. I am excited to welcome them to the Assembly for a celebration on their self-government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The only practical benefit I can see is being in alignment with Alberta as a jurisdiction where we have lots of medical travel and we do lots of trade with. Other than that, I don't see any benefit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the question. In 2022, the Government of the Northwest Territories put out a survey about ending time change. I think it's probably the most popular survey we've ever put out. There was about 3,000 responses in two days. 87 percent of the people who responded are in favour of ending seasonal time change. The reason that we haven't done it yet is because we are so closely tied to Alberta that we want to ensure that we can maintain the same time as them because we have lots of medical appointments, we do lots of business with Alberta, there's flights...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think people in this House are aware that the Department of National Defence had a pre-procurement announcement to allow businesses to get ready, that there could be up to $10 billion invested in forward operating locations in the Northwest Territories. I don't have further details on that right now, but we are trying to reach out and work with the Department of National Defence to get an understanding of what those might be. But the possibilities are endless. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I doubt there is a database of all the issues MLAs have brought up. We would need a department to do that kind of work. It's quite extensive. Just today we've had hours and hours of debate where we've heard probably thousands of different ideas. So no, I don't think there is a comprehensive database. That said, the way the consensus government is supposed to work is that Members raise issues in the House, Members raise issues in standing committees, governments hear those issues, governments bring forward proposals, they get feedback on that, and that all of this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The drafting of legislation is really done within the Department of Justice, but I can speak to the general process.

There are a number of issues that might hold up drafting, and as Minister of Justice, I did become familiar with those. I would often have other Ministers come to me and say, why is the department so slow. Well, it turns out there's more than just the drafting. There's also the drafting instructions, and sometimes when you're drafting legislation, a policy question comes up and you need to go back to the department and figure out that policy question.

And...