Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. And as my Christmas present, this will probably be the last question I can ask my Cabinet colleagues in 2021.

We have an extensive inventory of contaminated sites so there's lots of work to be done. That work should also be part of a key part of what the polytechnic university might look at as well to help build capacity and capture opportunities for remediation economy.

Will the Minister commit to regularly update regular MLAs on her efforts to secure federal investment to accelerate remediation work? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. And clearly, the approach we've taken to date has been a dismal failure. From what I've seen, we continue to pitch this investment as a way to bail out the extractive sector. Federal support is not a way to backtrack and pollute our pace or absolve the private sector of its liabilities.

So what assurance can the Minister give me that we're going to change our bailout approach and start to make a pitch for an accelerated northern contaminated sites remediation program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Bah humbug. Sorry, no, honestly I am not Scrooge but there are some more things that I got to talk about.

On April 17, 2020 the federal government announced $1.72 billion in financial assistance for remediation of orphan and inactive oil and gas wells in western Canada as part of Canada’s Economic Response Plan for COVID19. On May 28, October 14, 2020 and February 10, 2021, I made statements in this House about the potential for the NWT to access similar funding, working in partnership with Yukon and Nunavut. As I understand it, the requests from our government...

Merci, Monsieur le President. The advice from the Transition Matters special committee of the last Assembly was that there should be fewer priorities. We produced a list of 22 priorities versus the 25 for the 18th Assembly. Hard choices were not made. We ran out of time and energy after an intensive orientation with a looming leadership selection process.

I do not support some of the priorities set by this Assembly. Some work at crosspurposes with each other. Some of the priorities provide precise direction while others are extremely vague. The priorities provide very little direction for the...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.

Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, and I want to thank my colleague from Yellowknife North. He's covered off a number of my concerns, particularly with regard to P3s being used increasingly by GNWT.

But the other aspect that the report goes into, and this was found in the audit by the auditor general, was that there was overspending on capital by $32 million during 2019-20. You know, the 50 percent mark was a certain figure, and we only generated a $46 million cash operating surplus but we spent $78 million on capitals using the fiscal responsibility policy.

So even though our government failed to...

Thanks, Madam Chair. So this project's actually in my riding, and it's something so I've been here six years and I've never really understood how we owned the old hospital and then it was given to somebody else to renovate and then we leased the whole thing back at a cost, and then we get it back at the end of the period when it's been rented to us for 30 years. I've just never really understood that arrangement. It just boggles my mind. And I don't understand why the government didn't keep the building, renovate it, and then we used it for longterm care and extended care, which is I guess...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, just briefly, I do want to acknowledge that the Mineral Resources Act when it was being developed there are provisions now in the act for benefit agreements to be negotiated prior to production licences. I think that was a good thing to do. I think there's still some details to be worked out in that regard. But I think that was a good start in acknowledging that there's a need to share greater benefits with Indigenous governments from mining. Yes, thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci.. Our government inherited a mining fiscal regime from the federal government at devolution. That regime has never been through a thorough public review. Why is this important now?

Government revenues from mining have accounted for a significant portion of our spending, particularly since devolution. Exactly how much remains to be seen due to a lack of transparency but these funds do help support our programs and services such as housing, education and health care. It is very important that our government gets a fair share for this onetime natural capital, and that it is shared with...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following four documents entitled Motion 483(2): Testing of Cruise Missile in Canada Excerpts from Hansard dated September 2nd, 1983; Motion 1586(1): Cruise Missile Testing Opposition Excerpts from Hansard dated March 5th, 1986; Motion 1189(2): Low Level Flights in the Northwest Territories Excerpts from Hansard dated November 1st, 1989; and Motion 2012(5): Condemnation of the Continuation of Cruise Missile Testing Excerpts from Hansard March 2, 1994. Merci, Mr. Speaker.