Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank the Minister for that. As part of the first-round changes to our petroleum legislation, we thought we plugged holes like the significant discovery licence giveaways and flipped the secrecy onus to make information public. Further changes were promised including an examination of royalties and perhaps even a legislative requirement for a public registry. Can the Minister tell us when the second round of legislative changes will actually take place and whether a requirement for a public registry for petroleum rights will be part of that work?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I described in my statement the lack of a coherent public registry when it comes to our management of petroleum exploration and development rights. Seven years after devolution and 19 months after changes to the legislation passed, I think the public and operators deserve a lot better. Can the Minister tell us whether she agrees that we can and should be doing a lot better with regard to public access to petroleum rights information? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. While attempting to drill down into the Husky Oil significant discovery licence, pun intended, I was astounded at how difficult it is to find any useful and accessible information about how our government actually administers oil and gas rights.

ITI does not seem to have implemented its new responsibilities with the changes to the Petroleum Resources Act. While much of the secrecy surrounding rights management was supposed to be fixed, it is virtually impossible to get any coherent information on specific oil and gas rights holdings. There are three separate...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The difficulty is our government now is going to lose $21 million in potential revenue because the Minister would not carry forward the rental fee from the exploration licence into the significant discovery licence. That's $21 million that we could have collected on this that we just gave away. The Minister talks about how she got some kind of legal opinions that told her she couldn't do it, so I'd like to ask whether the Minister can share that legal opinion, even if it has to be shared on a confidential basis, with this...

I want to thank the Minister for that. It came about a week after I first raised the issue in the House. Can the Minister tell me whether there are any terms and conditions in that significant discovery licence, because it is not posted to the website, that require any work to be undertaken as part of that significant discovery licence or any rental fees?

Merci, Monsieur le President. I recognize I've got a bit of an advantage as I was in the last Assembly. All you have to do is turn back to the original discussion paper on this topic, and it was put forward as a set of targeted changes, that there was going to be a broader review later. I'm happy to talk to the Minister about that.

I was never really in favour of ITI administering subsurface rights when the department has a conflicting mandate to promote resource development. That's exactly the kind of situation the public reviews of the Gulf of Mexico oil drilling disaster said should be...

I think I've got a pretty good memory, but I don't think I've raised this issue on petroleum rights before. I'm always happy to talk to the Minister. I don't like how there's at least three separate sets of information about petroleum rights on the ITI webpages. Can the Minister tell us whether it's her intention to set up a coherent public registry, and when that might happen?

Merci, Monsieur le President. I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 3 on the agenda, Members' statements, to allow our colleague from Kam Lake to make her statement. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Elections and Plebiscites Act be amended to prohibit photography, videography, or phone calls within the polling station and to authorize the Chief Electoral Officer to issue guidance on the usage of electronics in polling stations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have two written questions.

The first one is on the Slave Geological Province Corridor. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Cabinet's Mandate 2019-2023 proposes to make strategic infrastructure investments, including the Slave Geological Province Corridor. Could the Minister describe the phases of the proposed Slave Geological Province Corridor as found in the Mandate 2019-2023, including the following:

Identify the time frames of construction, how each phase of construction will be financed, and whom the corridor will actually serve;

Identify how...