Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, joining the semi-mini theme day, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the economy and more particular, I want to speak about the mining issue.
Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement I pointed out that the benefit of an independent sort of mining committee to review, we could convene a three-person or four-person blue chip panel and bring back Bob, you know, our guy who knows his stuff, who called the red alert, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be willing to do that, create a panel of people who have specialized expertise, could say what are the issues they foresee in our economy that's slowing mining down, because we all know it is truly the foundation of our economic future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of ITI.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Members bringing this up and, you know, I remember when the red alert was issued back in 2017. I was cheering Bob on. I've long been a fan of former Premier McLeod. And I remember the crux of that being no decisions about the North without the North. And that's something that we still stand by on this side of the House. Meeting with industry is something that I do on a regular basis and, Mr. Speaker, acknowledging how important it is that we as Cabinet work together and there's never a one silver bullet or there's never one issue or one challenge we can work through. I don't do that on my own. I do that alongside the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Strategic Infrastructure because all of our departments play a critical role in working together with industry. So those meetings are already happening, and they're happening on a very regular basis. Thank you.
Colleagues, personal names not allowed in the House, please and thank you. I would appreciate both sides to respect that. Thank you.
Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. You're a steady hand on the till when it comes to the rules.
Mr. Speaker, former Premier McLeod, or I called him other things, Mr. Speaker, I really mean that endearingly. He had a vision. And you know what? The reason I say this is because the Minister is in power to make decisions. I appreciate she wants to consult but what's wrong with convening a three-person panel as an example? Because they could talk about the power of a North of 60 mineral tax credit. They could talk about the power of the mineral tender system. They could talk about different things about stakeholder engagement, including building relationships as the Premier had said yesterday how important that is.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister use her authority, which she is full able to do this, to create something to get these things done because we're not seeing movement on this file. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking me to create something that already exists. These meetings are already happening. These collaborations are already happening. I'm already working with industry to learn from them and also to collaborate and carry our voices forward together. As Cabinet, we work very closely with Council of Leaders, and those conversations about industry are then carried forward to the federal government and to other key stakeholders together as a team. So these conversations are already happening. This work is already happening. So I'm saying great idea to the Member; we're doing it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, I'm referring to something outside government, and how I'll frame it this way very quickly is a person in the industry said they're not doing this, and they're a well-known person in the industry. They talk about the disconnect between the NWT geological society -- or survey, sorry, and industry on hand. They used to have regular meetings, Mr. Speaker. It's that kind of relationship outside of government.
So, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to sit down and talk about that and find a way to bring back an independent panel to be able to make recommendations because our economy is beyond on the ropes, Mr. Speaker. We need action now. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard the Member asked to sit down. I'm always happy to sit down with a Member. Frequently, if I'm in town, I'm generally in my office, and I'm always on my phone, so very happy to have time either on the phone or in person with the Member. I have regular meetings with what would be considered industry or independent panelists who otherwise referred to as Chamber of Mines. I have a meeting with them today. Very happy to inform the Member or sit down and have a conversation with the Member about what we talk about.
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of other stuff that's going on in addition to what the Member is talking about, conversations that are happening, but then also we meet with the advanced projects of this territory on a very regular basis and find out where they're at, what some of their challenges are, how we can support one another because we have common goals at the end of the day.
We're also, myself along with the Premier and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, working on a regulatory streamlining. This is very important work to all of us and something that we definitely want to see when we talk about reducing red tape across the board. And we're ensuring at the end of the day that we have a map of what is happening in the territory, how we can support one another and how we can work together. So very happy to sit down with the Member anytime. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI.
Colleagues, we've just taken ten minutes and had two questions, two sets of questions. So, please, be brief in our preamble and really succinct with your answers.
Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
