R.J. Simpson

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...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And Cabinet does have a position on this one because this is a recommendation for government and so when there's a recommendation for government, we do abstain. We want to ensure that we can actually look into these issues before we put a vote to it. So we'll be abstaining. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise the House that the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Arctic 360 conference in Toronto, Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You can be forgiven, Mr. Speaker. We've only worked together five years, come on.

Or Mr. Chair, I apologize. I'm just joking, of course. That's what happens. I get a little cheeky, and I get my comeuppance.

I just have a question, actually, and I know that it's not question period, we can't refer to questions here. But "as acquired" are the last two words here, and I was wondering what that means, "supply information as required." Is it referring to the Minister -- that witnesses may be there as required or that information may be supplied as required? I'd just like some clarity on this. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, February 7th, 2025, I will be present Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Partnership and Business Names Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, revenue royalties are under the Minister of ITI so I can't speak to that. My primary concern is getting some investment into the territory and getting some development and getting people working and, of course, doing it in a sustainable way. That's one thing that we always have to balance in the Northwest Territories. The people of the Northwest Territories, they still live on the land. They still hunt, they still fish, they still trap, and many communities supplement their incomes and their food through those methods. So while we have that consideration...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member wants to put a framework around this amorphous idea of pushing for billion-dollar opportunities, I'd be happy to have a look at that and consider how we can use that, but I'm not going to spearhead the Member's initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, the eyes of the world are on the North now and the discussions about Arctic security, defence, have taken up an inordinate amount of my time. I can say I did not expect this when I became Premier of the Northwest Territories I'd be having these national discussions and international discussions, but the fact is we are. And so what I can do from my end as a politician is talk to the politicians who are making decisions about what we need for infrastructure. And so we have provided detailed information to the federal government about the types of...

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.