Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that. I know other departments went to the Financial Management Board to secure additional resources, and I guess the other pieces of legislation, the Waters Act, the Environmental Protection Act, that's not going to happen in this Assembly. So can I get an explanation from the Minister as to why no additional resources were secured from the Financial Management Board for the Forest Act work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just more of a comment I think at this point. This is systematic of what I've said about this government's approach to climate change, the climate crisis, all along. It's divided up amongst three ministries. No one seems to want to take responsibility for an overall coordinated approach. ENR is supposed to have the lead but doesn't really. And I don't detect any changes from what happened in the last Assembly, the last Cabinet's approach; it's failing. The stats show that. And we're not going to reach the PanCanadian Framework. So another plea to change course, please, to...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. On corporate management, this is where the policy, legislation and communications function of the department's located. And there was quite a bit of work done in the last Assembly on the Forest Act. So I'm just wondering if the Minister can tell us if it's the intention of the department to bring forward a Forest Act bill in this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yeah, no, thanks for that. I guess I know I said this before, I understand a lot of work that has to go into the negotiation of setting these protected areas up, but that's when the real work actually begins. You have to create management plans. You know, you have to there should be money for guardianship programs, investing in tourism and infrastructure in the protected areas themselves. I actually disagree with what the deputy minister said in that I think you need even more money when it comes to actually implementing these and doing it in a consistent and supportive way. So that's what I...

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that.

You know, I keep asking questions of this Minister, now two days in a row, because I'm not getting any other information. So will this Minister now commit to finally start to share some of what's going on behind closed doors with this side of the House on this issue? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm a very patient man. I've been waiting six years. So any kind of progress reporting would be really helpful. But I'll leave it at that. That's all my questions on this activity. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. If I was worried before, now I'm even more worried that this modeling doesn't even go into the Northwest Territories. So if it doesn't cover the Northwest Territories, I'd like to know more from the Minister what he's going to do about this? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

That's one of the few times I think I've actually got a 'yes' in this house, so very pleased to hear that, and I know a lot of other Yellowknife residents and others will be quite happy with that.

So in the description of the activities carried out under what the purpose of this section of ENR is, there's words around prevention. Is there any policy work that this section of ENR is going to do this year? The only thing in six years that I've seen here was about a 10 or 12page document about some kind of vague GNWT policy around contaminated sites. Is there any other policy work, legislative...

Merci, Madam la Presidente. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about the development of regulations for discharges from the Alberta tar sands.

I understand that Alberta has begun ecological and human health risk assessment work downstream of potential discharge points. Can the Minister tell us what involvement, if any, this government has had in this risk assessment work and whether it includes impacts into the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So is there money in this budget to do work at Ptarmigan, and can we get reimbursed? And what is that amount? And can we get reimbursed for that money by the feds? Thanks, Mr. Chair.