Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Mr. Speaker, what is the status of development of an economic vision and investment strategy by the department?
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of ITI.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, work on the economic vision is underway within the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. It's important to mention to the Member that this document is not a strategy. It is intended to be an aspirational and values-based document but not a prescriptive plan. Really, it's a guiding framework for the territory, ensures we're aligned, and ultimately ends up being our combined elevator pitch, if you will. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would just note that in the government's response to the 2025 environmental audit, it very specifically says in there, in writing, that it is a strategy. I'm curious about this. And I guess I would just ask the question, what is the point of developing a vision if you don't have a strategy to implement it? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in conversations with multiple entities, it was raised to the Government of the Northwest Territories, including myself, that really what we needed was a combined way that we talk about the Northwest Territories and that we talk about our aspirational goals and where we're headed as far as economic development and as far as developing ourselves and investing in ourselves as a territory. And what we needed was a common elevator pitch that we could take beyond the borders of the Northwest Territories. And what, ultimately, this document would do would be to align the strategies that we're putting together, whether those strategies come out of housing, whether they come out of health and social services, whether they come out of the Department of Finance, so that they all fall under a common vision for the Northwest Territories and a common goal. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what is being done by staff who are developing -- I'm going to keep referring to it as a strategy -- the new strategy response to the concerns raised by the 2025 environmental audit about effectiveness of previous strategies? I won't go into the audit here.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the audit specifically called out gaps in strategies, like the mineral development strategy and economic opportunity strategy, and the vision would respond by aligning what we've heard, including through ongoing collaboration to implement the Mineral Resources Act and modernize our regulatory framework. So, in short, Mr. Speaker, the vision would unify this work, unify what we've learned, into a single focus statement to guide future economic efforts across the territory. And I'll end that there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
