Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. This, again, was a matter of a lot of debate and discussion in the last Assembly. The wording in the bill as passed was not ideal. The regular MLAs attempted to amend it. That motion failed. Cabinet attempted to amend it. That motion failed. We didn't do a good job drafting this portion of the act as it became law. And now the Ombud has pointed this out as well. The current wording is just not very clear. It's rather awkward.

And this wording would make it clear that, you know, matters of administration and implementation of a policy can be investigated by the Ombud when...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, someone who was here in the 18th Assembly when the bill was being reviewed, I think this was just an oversight on the part of folks that were looking at the reviewing the bill and the draft of it and so on.

The advantage of the Yukon definition is that it basically captures those organizations that are set up through legislation or  and I'm not going to get all of the exact criteria right. But basically they are in one way or another almost an arm or a creature of GNWT. So I think the principle here was that  and this was identified by the Ombud as something that was...

Merci, Monsieur le President. This is a private members' public bill that would change existing legislation to allow for the sharing of mining, oil and gas royalty information with Regular MLAs and Indigenous governments. A private Members' public bill is a bill that seeks to establish a new act or amend an existing act but is introduced by a Member who is not in Cabinet.

This bill which is the second private Members' bill brought forward by myself during my time as an MLA is designed to allow the Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment to share royalty information, subject to any...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, again, another detailed response. I'd love to see this analysis, because I've never seen it. I keep asking for it. But I welcome the Minister providing that kind of analysis.

So, you know, great to hear that systematic evaluation is taking place; I've never seen it. If I was listening and I was the federal government, I would not be giving GNWT any money without such analysis. So how could  you know, how can we be sure that this analysis is actually being done when it's not been shared with the Regular MLAs or the public. So...

I want to thank the Minister for that. Actually, you can actually drive up to pumps many places in BC to purchase renewable diesel right there. It's not a stretch to bring renewable diesel up here in the Northwest Territories.

But I want to move on, Mr. Speaker, to clearly renewable diesel is an easy and fast win whereas Talston expansion has no funding, no buyers; it would take years to build to diamond mines that would be closed. So could the Minister tell us what proven technologies with projects ready to go are being pursued by this government? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Monsieur le President. We don't have to look far to see the mounting impacts to climate change. Extreme events such as high water levels, sea ice disappearing at unprecedented rates and new species arriving in the NWT, like magpies and cougars, are all signs of the need to change the way we use energy. The latest modelling shows that to prevent the worst climate effects, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

It's not clear how our government is evaluating our investments in energy projects. The Social Environmental Justice...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Just to be crystal clear, you know, Cabinet is going to have an obligation now to respond to these committee reports. There's some clear recommendations in here for legislative change, and I expect that our Cabinet colleagues are going to adopt and endorse some of these recommendations without having to necessarily consult with Indigenous governments. But I look forward to them actually bringing forward the required changes in the lifetime of this Assembly. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. This was a major point of discussion and debate in the last Assembly. I think it's fair to say that Cabinet had to be convinced that this was something to move it forward, the Ombud legislation. And we had to pick a date. The Regular MLAs tried to push this back to April 1st, 1999. Cabinet wouldn't accept it. And so there was a stalemate of these I guess some Regular MLAs did side with Cabinet. I'm not going to go into those details. But this has become an issue. The Ombud has identified this as an issue in some of the investigations she has carried out, that she would...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to discuss Committee Report 1319(2), Report on Review of the 201920 Northwest Territories Ombud Annual Report. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Bill 29, Resource Royalty Information Disclosure Statute Amendment Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the following statutes to allow for the disclosure of confidential information respecting resource royalties for use in the development and evaluation of policy for the Government of the Northwest Territories to a Member of the Legislative Assembly or to an Indigenous government, Mineral Resources Act, Northwest Territories Lands Act, Petroleum Resources Act. Thank you, Mr...