Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. I give notice that on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021, I'll move the following motion. Now Therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Tabled Document 41319(2): Emerging Stronger: Planning the NWT's Social and Economic Recovery Together be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration. Merci, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. If we're moving forward, why have I been asking these questions for the last year? I just don't get it. If you can't get someone to pay their fair share, Mr. Speaker, that sounds like a dispute to me. Can the Minister explain to me why this is not a dispute and shouldn't be brought to the dispute resolution process, as set out in the agreement? Look, first stage of any dispute is usually you've got to get the parties to sit down and talk about it. You can then go to mediation. Then you can go to arbitration if they can't sort it out. It's a long process. But why...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Now, I'm getting somewhere. This is great. No, seriously, though, I do appreciate that the Minister's willing to review the situation and she's going to get back to me in writing. So I appreciate that very much.

When I had an earlier exchange with her on this issue and I was told that, quote, from the Minister, "The YZF regional airport manager is continuing discussions in an effort to find a solution to alleviate the apparent challenge with these lease payments", that's great. But I'm not sure what else we can do besides prorate or reduce the fees.

But can the...

Merci, Monsieur le President. That's great to hear the passenger traffic is increasing, but I didn't actually get a response to my question, as usual, Mr. Speaker. I asked for what kind of analysis was done before the waivers were rescinded as of January 1st.

But while these fees are significant for taxi drivers and their companies, I'm not sure that they're a vital revenue source for this Government.

Can the Minister tell us how many dollars were collected by charging the airport taxi stand licence fees at the Yellowknife airport and at all airports across the NWT in the last year and then the...

Mahsi, Monsieur le President. Further on the theme of the pandemic, we all know that COVID19 has had impacts on small businesses and questions persist about how this government can help operators get through the hard times. The taxi industry is a prime example and I have a specific ask for how this government can help.

With the collapse of the tourism industry and discouragement of nonessential travel, the volume of airline traffic has dramatically shrunk. Air Canada is out of Yellowknife market entirely. WestJet is on reduced service passenger volumes and other air carriers are way down as...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that information. It's interesting that these fees were only charged in Yellowknife, and it's only $45,000. I don't know why we can't do something about this. But, of course, we all look forward to the day when the pandemic restrictions are lifted and that we can get tourism going again. But if we don't have a taxi industry, how are they going to be able to serve the tourists that arrive here.

So will the Minister give that service sector the relief that it needs now and reinstitute the waiver on or at least prorate the taxi stand...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. Yellowknife taxi companies are looking for relief from airport taxi stand licence fees to get through the hard times. Can the Minister tell us what analysis, if any, was done on passenger traffic volumes before the decision was made to rescind the waiver on these fees as of January 1st, 2021. Merci, Mr. Speaker,.

Merci, Mr. Speaker. I know it's a question period, and I don't have to necessarily get answers. But I still don't have an answer to that question. So I'll give the Minister the opportunity when she answers my next questions to say that she'll actually respond to the first one I asked.

But, Mr. Speaker, I've had some concerns raised with me about the qualifications, perhaps some of the work that might have been done by some folks that may be doing some of the assessment.

Do homeowners have the ability to seek a second opinion, or if they disagree with the assessment...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Sorry. I didn't give the Minister and Municipal Community Affairs a headsup, but I've received a number of calls, emails, about the briefing that we had on flooding, and I wanted to take this opportunity to follow up on some concerns that have been raised with me.

First off, I've heard a number of concerns around how the assessment of damages is being done or could be done. And can the Minister tell us whether communities have the ability to hire their or a First Nation would have the ability to hire their own assessors, get the work done, and seek...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. I don't think I got a response. I wanted some work done on the human health assessment work that was done back on the 2003 guideline, but I'll pursue that separately with the Minister. Clearly, there's a need to review this arsenic remediation guideline which currently only includes two land uses for residential and industrial use.

So in reviewing this guideline, is the Minister committing to expand the land uses that are considered, and then what, of course, are the implications for the Giant Mine remediation.

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