Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On a similar topic, the $63 million in unsecured debt that the Burgundy and ACDC owned mining group owes northern suppliers, contractors, and Indigenous development corps, is unsecured, meaning no one can collect on it until the rest of the financial restructuring is done. That means Northerners and northern companies are holding the bag.
So how is the Minister of Finance working to support those companies? We've already seen the federal government step in and spend an extraordinary amount of money, so what are we doing to ensure that that $63 million is paid to Northerners as they deserve? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a CCAA proceeding is a legal proceeding. We are attending at that proceeding and we are a party there as the GNWT. Certainly would want to ensure that anyone that is a company that is -- also has the opportunity to attend at those proceedings. But, Mr. Speaker, at some point, a legal proceeding, I am somewhat limited to speak to. More broadly, though, Mr. Speaker, there's so much activity happening at this point in time with respect to ECE's efforts on the workforce development front and ITI's efforts in terms of supports for businesses. And as well, of course, the question seems to be a little bit difficult in that I am not quite sure if we want to support the mineral industry or don't want to support the mineral industry, but to try to ensure that there was some stability for the industry, some stability for this company, certainly the federal government decided to issue a loan. That was on their decision to do so, but it certainly gave a fair bit of time for companies to be managing their affairs, to be getting paid, and to be having a bit more of a runway before we are at the stage we're at now. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, to be clear, I support the mining industry. I think we all should be supporting the mining industry. It's not their fault this happened; it's the global market conditions. But what has happened is they owe Northerners a lot of money. So if the legal proceedings are not the avenue to do that, then what avenue does our government have? What tools do we have to support the businesses that are owed this? We've already seen 90 jobs leave Hay River and other parts of the Northwest Territories. We're going to see more if this money is not paid. So what are we going to do? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a fairly large -- a large breadth of things that need to happen and that are happening. Everything from starting, Mr. Speaker, with respect to working -- worker training programs that are happening for individuals who have been employed at the mines. Fortunately, because of the planned closure for Diavik, that system was already well developed when Burgundy found itself in CCAA. Those pathways have been promoted widely through ITI and ECE and certainly happy to make sure that that information gets out to residents. Beyond that, Mr. Speaker, we're working to ensure that companies and development corporations and communities are ready for the opportunities that we're now seeing. $11 billion coming in for the Department of Defense, three projects that have been around forever, all referred into the major projects office. That's out of the 17 across this country, three here in the Northwest Territories. And we're going to work with businesses and development corporations to make sure they can take advantage of them and be ready to maximize their opportunities. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I am not talking about the Ekati workers. I am talking about the businesses that are owed this money where the unsecured debt is. So I don't have the same access to the federal government that the Minister has. It seems like the answer is going to be go to Ottawa anyway, so will the Minister speak to her federal counterparts and tell them to pay this bill? Because someone's got to at the end of the day. Because if it goes sideways and that money isn't paid bout, then we are going to -- these northern companies that have done the work, that have employees that need to be paid to put food on the table, they're not getting what they're owed, and someone has to pay that bill. And if it's not this government, then it should be Ottawa. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the diamond markets for -- well, the diamond markets have been struggling now for some time since COVID and not rebounding as they were expected to. During the course of probably about a year ago, Mr. Speaker, it would have been a very sudden and extreme shock were Ekati to have gone immediately into bankruptcy. And, Mr. Speaker, we had been speaking to Ottawa at that time. Ottawa did step in. They have tried to support a restructuring and provided a significant loan. It is a loan. It's certainly not by any means going to be a bailout. It's a loan that bought a significant amount of time. A number of companies that had contacted us and development corporations have had that time now to re-examine their own arrangements, their own workforce arrangements, their own engagements with the mine, and now the situation while we are in a CCAA is not good news, it is a much more orderly proceeding. We are at that proceeding, businesses are at that proceeding, and the federal government is there. And once again, we did speak to and engage with the federal government. They have stepped in to ensure that this could be a sales process, which once again buys a bit more time, allows the process to be more orderly, be more planned, and for all parties, including the businesses, to have an opportunity to see if there's opportunities for them through this process. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
