Vince McKay

I don't know how else to word this. I've been pretty much agreeing with him but I don't know how else to -- yes, I guess so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I guess part of the problem is, is that we do have a lot of the work completed, and there's been a lot of background work going on with it; however, you know, we're not building a made-in-the-north standard building agreement. It is a Canadian one and, of course, with the things that have been changing, we're constantly updating it. So moving ahead, you know, there is a commitment to put it forward here the next year, and hopefully by the 21st Assembly we have it ready to go. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't run the chipping machine but we'll work on it, and hopefully we can commit to getting that done. As I stated, whatever the previous Minister said, I will try to stick with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have stated many times, a lot of this work is being done in a Canadian standard. We're not inventing our own wheel here and trying to make up our own plans. Working with agencies like that are, you know, collaborative approach. It's not about the department going to these NGOs and essentially forcing them to work with the government. They have their own needs, they have their own requirements, and at times it may not even involve the government support. So, again, there's multiple departments involved in this work, and we'll continue to work with the group to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I am the Minister, I'm not directly involved in that process, so I'd have to find out more detail on it on exactly who's all involved in this. And just to be clear, the EIA is heading a lot of this work with that stuff, so it's not necessarily all municipal and community affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I'm aware of this, and there is a commitment to continue this process; however, obviously, with priorities of the government, things do change and do slow down different lines of work however we know that there's a need for this, and we'll continue to work on it. The Department of Infrastructure, municipal and community affairs, department of housing have been reviewing all the existing regulations, and we're hopefully going to advance some of this here in 2026. And, yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 63-20(1): Creation of an Emergency Management Agency for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listen, I don't disagree with the Member. This is a commitment that has been -- with the Member, sorry. This is a commitment that's been made. It's been on the table for a long time. The department is continually working on it. Like I said, the priorities of the Legislative Assembly and legislative proposals are all -- yeah, they're all there, and sometimes these ones get pushed on the back burner a little bit. It depends on what the appetite of all the Members are, and apparently this one here has been slowed down a little bit. But, again, the commitment is to have...

Yes, we're committed to looking at getting it done.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, I was waiting for the light to come on there. That was last year's Minister. I can't commit to anything -- no. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to take away that commitment at all. I'll work with the department to commit to trying to make sure that we're completed that by the end of our Assembly as the previous Minister has done so also, and I share the same response there, that I think it's important that we finish that off there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.