Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Committee wishes to consider Bill 46, Bill 47, and Committee Report 2719(2). Mahsi.

In favour.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm not sure where I'm getting with the Premier on this. But I'd hope that she would say that gee, sorry we missed you guys last time but we'll talk to you before we do any more reorganization.

I'd understood that the socalled "government renewal initiative" would be much further along by now, and that process would be a place where reorganizations and efficiencies would be driven. But that's not even referenced in the news release. It doesn't even mention the words "government renewal initiative."

So the can Premier tell us why the decision on the merger appears...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier for that. That's way more information than was certainly in the news release. But I did ask her if she could share the background information. So I look forward to getting the consultant's report and I'd ask that the Premier also to make that public. So I look forward to getting that information. It's not clear what or who is driving this merger and how many staff may lose their jobs.

Can the Premier tell us who Cabinet consulted in making this the decision; was it the business community, Indigenous governments, or who? Mahsi, Mr...

Merci, Monsieur le President. It certainly came as a surprise when the merger of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Lands was announced on May 17, 2022. I thought this sort of change might cause our Cabinet colleagues to engage this side of the House before final decisions on government reorganization might be made.

To be clear, I never really understood why there was a Department of Lands created at devolution as some sort of a buffer or arbiter between the prodevelopment Industry, Tourism and Investment and the prosustainability Environment and Natural...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I too would like to thank the committee for its work. I was able to sit in on most of the presentations from experts on UNDRIP and its implementation. However, I was not able to hear directly from Indigenous governments on any of their concerns around negotiations or implementation. I was interested and would have benefitted, I think, from participating or observing those meetings but was not allowed.

I haven't had a chance to read it cover to cover, but I certainly scanned the report. And I think it's a good summary of the UNDRIP presentations and some of the issues...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'm glad to see that we are making it consistent in terms of who will get to celebrate this holiday, not just members of the public service, but people that work in the private sector as well.

But I know that there were some concerns or issues raised when this was being discussed around what sort of supports or activities and so on were our government helping put together to facilitate reconciliation and, particularly, for this day. So if I could ask the Minister what efforts our government is doing to ensure that the day is meaningful for our residents in the Northwest...

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Mahsi.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, but I shouldn't actually have to go on the Open NWT contract website to actually get that kind of information. Hoping that he can start sharing that a little more proactively with this side of the House.

I've also raised the issue of the refusal of the Government of Alberta to allow GNWT to have a seat on a couple of technical committees on downstream water quality. The Minister said he was going to get in touch with the federal government to try to secure these seats, but there hasn't been any updates.

Can the Minister tell...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about the development of regulations for discharges from the Alberta tar sands tailings.

Can the Minister tell us why no information on these discharge regulations has been shared with this side of the House, or the public, since I last raised this issue a couple of months ago? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.