Bob Bromley

Thank you. That sounds great. I’m wondering how the public will participate and I’m wondering if the Minister can assure us that these meetings will be public and full transparency will be provided through the opportunity for anybody to look at them as people are welcome to attend during this House session. Thank you.

I’m not quite sure that’s relevant to my question. Obviously they will need a terms of reference, it’s a pretty broad swath in the agreement. What is this? Is this government working with other governments? This government very legitimately needs a role to play and that role is not restricted to Cabinet. In fact, it’s not restricted to half of our public; it includes all our public.

Again, I will ask how will Regular Members have input into how this council works and other aspects that would typically be covered in a terms of reference if it’s going to be done without a terms of reference. I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, February 20, 2014, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work with our regional Aboriginal government partners to determine the desirability and feasibility of establishing and staffing regional offices as a basis for ensuring meaningful input into land and water management structures;

And further, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work with the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board to seek support and resources...

You wouldn’t happen to have a crowbar I could use, would you? Sorry, Mr. Speaker.

What I’m looking for maybe is a commitment from the Premier to provide to the public everything that is not confidential as it was provided in the final agreement, and will the Premier also assure the public at this time in this House that we will not be assuming substantial new liabilities without holding securities to cover them? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity. I wanted to follow up with my questions for the Premier on the liability and of very grave concern, obviously, if not managed properly. Again, I cite our final agreement where Appendix 7, Part E lists our operating sites that we will become responsible for, and as both the Premier and I mentioned, there’s the opportunity to modify that list, but it’s over 200 sites, so it’s a very substantial list. We’ve mentioned the Norman Wells pipeline and the diamond mines and so on, we are taking those over as per our agreement.

All we have is this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say finally an answer, sort of. I appreciate that.

On behalf of our public, there are many sites that we’re taking over and we will be taking on a lot of liability.

Will the Premier commit to providing the public and this House with a final list of the amount of security deposits and the assessed liabilities for each potentially contaminated site? For example, operating mines that we’re taking over that will be transferred to the GNWT as of April 1st and will he commit to doing this by March 1st so that we and the public have a full understanding of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also have found some very good and positive changes in the Housing Corporation, which I appreciate. I know the Minister has excellent staff. I like to share the credit and think that committee has also contributed. In fact, he has staff who listen well and he himself listens well and reacts positively. I think working as a team, big stuff can happen.

I have a number of questions just on the energy front, and I know that’s always an ongoing challenge of putting in some better monitoring to see what the effectiveness of our actions are and stuff like that, which I...

Thanks to the Premier. Of course, I did refer to Schedule 7, Part E. Maybe the Premier is not aware that Nunavut is outside of that, but that wasn’t in there.

It is clear that in many cases the securities have not been collected by the federal government. We’re talking about the lists that are going to be transferred along with their liabilities to the GNWT. So it’s hard to imagine how they will be transferred, these liabilities, these securities will be transferred to us in full. The Devolution Agreement allows Schedule 7 of the agreement to be amended before April 1st.

So, if we’re not going...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are these meetings meant to continue, or will this Intergovernmental Council be fulfilling the roles of these intergovernmental meetings here? I guess, as well, how is the funding going to work for the Intergovernmental Council in relation to this? Perhaps they’re the same thing. Thank you.

While Cabinet proposes to roll out even more subsidies to the resource extraction industry, are they secretly deciding that fully paid security deposits are an unnecessary burden on industry that hinders our competitiveness?

We have spent the last week insisting we leave a positive heritage for future generations. This potential liability could do the exact opposite. I will have questions. Mahsi.