Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I'll just go back and ask one other question. The $430,000 for the barren-ground caribou surveys, does that, then, have to be brought forward through a supplementary? Thank you.

That's great to hear. I hope this is not going to be another resource giveaway, but the Minister sort of prefaced my next question: Section 30.3 of the Petroleum Resources Act says that a significant discovery licence "may contain any other terms and conditions as may be agreed on by the Minister and the interest owner of the significant discovery licence." It's not clear whether that means the Minister can impose work requirements or annual fees that could even rise over time or whether Husky Energy has a veto. Can the Minister tell us whether it is her intention to pose any terms and...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Just in case anybody gets the wrong idea here, I am not saying that staff are not capable of doing the work. I know that they work very, very hard, and we saw that in the 18th Assembly. I just don't want to kill them with the work like we almost did with what we put onto them at the end of the 18th Assembly.

On Friday of last week, I can't even remember what day it is anymore, we reviewed the ITI budget, and they had over half a million dollars for a new unit that they had created for implementation of the Mineral Resources Act alone. It was $360,000 if they could contract...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I just want to be crystal clear. The money can be carried over from last year to this year to allow for the survey work to be done? You don't have to cut internally, look for unused funds in other parts of ENR, or even within wildlife and fish to do the work? I just want to be really clear about that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. The former Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment issued 10 significant discovery licences for oil and gas during the last Assembly. This was a huge post-devolution resource giveaway. The area covered by these licences is almost 2,200 square kilometres, an area about 40 percent the size of Prince Edward Island. Our government will get no revenues, no taxes, no employment, and no benefits from these areas that are now tied up virtually forever.

Significant discovery licences arose in the federal legislation that we inherited for petroleum resources. They allow...

Thanks, Madam Chair. If we can start on page 73. When I look down the program detail line for 2021-2022, all of those items are actually reduction from the previous year except for policy, legislation, and communications. Can someone tell me what's going on here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Let's talk about caribou. The barren-ground caribou surveys were supposed to happen last year. They didn't because of COVID. What's happening this summer? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair, and you're welcome to the Speaker for asking these questions. I have one more, if I could. There is an increase of the director, Human Rights Commission line of about $200,000, and I'd like to get an explanation there. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks. Yes. I know we're into year two of a pandemic, but it's an important time at some of these sites, as well, and the life cycle of some of these mines. The deputy minister knows this way better than I, that, in a couple of months, we're going to be talking about spring freshet. That's a very important time at these sites because water starts moving around and strange things can happen. I don't think our folks were able to go there in May and June of 2020, so I want to make sure that our folks get there this year and are able to do their work. I don't know what else I can say. Thanks...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I see that there are a few areas of increases, here, and maybe I'll speak with the Ombud office. Can someone explain to me what the increase here is all about? Thanks, Madam Chair.