Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my friend, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, was too modest. I think his hardworking staff is actually overworked staff. So I'd like to ask the Premier, in his responsibility as Minister of Justice, how the government is supporting the access to information regime in the Northwest Territories considering the high demand from the public and the low rate of responsiveness from the government as an entire entity? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is that enough given the slow response time and the increase in requests; is two enough? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been in the news recently that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs was recently ordered by the Information and Privacy Commissioner to provide disclosure to an access request. And I use the term "recently" loosely because they were six months behind their deadline.

Can the Minister respecting the privacy of the parties involved, can the Minister tell us why there was such an egregious delay in getting one of our citizens access to the information they rightfully deserve? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I think the assumption from the public is that Ministers talk to each other, so what is the arrangement if a Minister gets a concern from an interest group that's not directly related to their portfolio, do they do nothing and wait for their colleague to jump in the game, or how does that work on the Cabinet side? I'm sorry; I'm not familiar. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a helpful thing if we could build that into our priorities. What is the Minister doing to ensure we attract the right kind of investment from friendly sources in the United States and Europe? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And obviously foreign affairs or global affairs is a federal responsibility, but it seems that given the interest in these minerals, and all critical minerals, that we ought to consider this issue. So is the Minister looking into how we can assess investment and maybe work with Ottawa behind the scenes on these kind of investments and whether or not they are in the best interests of Northerners. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as my friend from the Sahtu has said, critical minerals are the future of the minerals industry, not just in Northwest Territories but in the entire world. And in that mix, rare earth minerals are vital to the modern digital economy because they're such a necessity for high technology devices, the demand of which increases exponentially every year. Rare earth minerals are particularly key to the transition to renewable energy and decarbonizing our economy. The industry is centered in the AsiaPacific region because the People's Republic of China accounts for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When this Assembly determines its priorities, will the Premier be willing to either change portfolios or create portfolios to better meet those priorities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on questions asked by my honourable friend from Yellowknife Centre to the Honourable Premier around the switching portfolios. So prior to that change, there was one point of contact for our most vulnerable citizens, seniors, the unhoused, and persons with disabilities. So can the Premier just confirm that now there's multiple Ministers that these groups need to go to instead of just one onestop shop? Thank you.

Thank you. And to be clear, no one's antiinvestment here but what we want is the right kind of investment. And when we know we have an adversarial government with a strangle hold on the market, this requires some new policy tools. The Yukon has a security council that's been created. Will the Minister work with the Premier to create a similar council to assess these kind of concerns? Thank you.