R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're going to stay the course because, again, I don't agree with the premise of the Member's question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Member mention the Minister's priorities of medical travel and cultural safety. I am not sure if he mentioned the other priority of care in small communities, and so I think a focus on care in small communities, which are primarily Indigenous in the territory, is -- you know, is a direct -- you can directly point to that to say we are working to fulfill the treaties. But I will comment since I am on the subject there that we do fulfill the treaties, I would say more than any other jurisdiction in Canada. We put more effort into ensuring that we do fulfill...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so when certain companies wind down, for example up at Diavik, for years they've had a my path program where they worked with the employees there to help them transition to whatever might be next. And so as I mentioned earlier, we have formed a partnership with Yellowknives Dene and the Tlicho to look at any training opportunities that might be available, trying to figure out where, you know, those individuals are working, how we can best support them. I want to also point out that there's already a lot of different programs available in the territory. There's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And how we're doing that is in partnership. Once again, we were just down in Vancouver at the AME Roundup where I signed an MOU with the Yellowknives Dene and the Tlicho to advance the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor. Of course we have a Minister of Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains -- see, it's not that hard of a title -- to focus on this work with an associate Minister who -- and I have found that arrangement actually to be one of the most effective things that we do as government, to have an associate and a Minister focusing on these specific...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, the Tlicho have tens of thousands of square kilometers of contiguous land and there are opportunities for mines on that land, from what I understand. And so from that standpoint alone, there would be ongoing benefits and benefits directly to Tlicho residents.

In terms of infrastructure, we want to ensure that when there's new infrastructure, if there's maintenance, that that's done locally. For example, roads, we always like to ensure that the communities closest to the roads are the ones doing the maintenance on those. So there's long-term benefits there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't speak about things in front of committee, but the budget contains things to do just that. We're also working on -- we have an MOU with CanNor to help speed up things. We're working -- I am working with my counterpart in the federal government to look at a more detailed MOU to really tackle a lot of these issues that have held things up. We are looking at how we can engage the federal government more so that they can provide direction to the boards in certain areas and provide better support to the boards where we see things held up. One example I always mention...

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I never -- so there's a number of different things going on here. I will address them as I kind of remember them.

So I have heard from -- I have actually heard from leaders in the Member's riding who have told me one thing. I don't think it's a point of order for me to get up here and say that. So I think that one is, you know, an easy one.

I don't speak for the Akaitcho leaders. I've never said I do. So I don't know where that one came from.

I was trying to discredit his line of questioning because I don't think it's a very credible line of questioning. I didn't accept...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I don't accept the premise of the Member's question. We do uphold the spirit of consensus government. Ministers appear in front of committees. Committees give feedback to Ministers. Ministers go and give direction to departments informed by that feedback. Just because a Member is not getting everything they want or they make promises that the Minister can't deliver on for them, it doesn't mean that we're not fulfilling the promise of consensus government, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the department of ITI does review the socio-economic agreements when there is the sale of a mine, and those socio-economic agreements do transfer to the new owner. So, yes, we do review those. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.