Kevin O'Reilly

I'm a bit perplexed at what I just heard. We changed this legislation in the last Assembly so we would give the Minister the authority to impose terms and conditions to get northern benefits; otherwise, we just give the company a significant discovery licence and they can sit on it for 15 years and do nothing. Is this Minister going to use her discretion to impose some terms and conditions to get northern benefits, or is she just going to give Husky Energy a blank cheque?

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Minister saying that. I pleaded with the previous Minister in the last Assembly to get more resources to get the work done, and I continue to do that. I will probably be here a year from now asking the same question. I want to move on to the Community Harvester Assistance Program. I think this is the place to talk about this. It's kind of hard to know. That program is very effective in terms of building food security. It gets people out on the land doing stuff that they like, and it hasn't been increased for a number of years. We had understood that it was...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I will put in a good word for you guys right now with the Finance Minister that I want them to approve that, and if they don't, they will have to answer to me. I am deadly serious. These herds are in a very, very desperate state. One of the most reliable ways that we have to determine their health is through the calving ground surveys. If the work is not done, we have no idea what's going on with the overall population. I shouldn't say "no idea." Our ability to predict and project is diminished dramatically. I know I am talking to scientists about this, so they get this...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Last week, the Minister revealed that she is working on issuing a significant discovery licence for Husky Energy under the amended Petroleum Resources Act. This will be the first significant discovery licence issued under our improved regime. Can the Minister tell us whether she's going to consult Sahtu communities, Indigenous governments, and Regular MLAs before issuing the significant discovery licence? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I am concerned, then, that we are actually reducing money to a community that now has an all-weather road. Hopefully, we can reopen later this year to allow tourism to start. Why are we reducing this funding now? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I am very pleased to congratulate my constituent Anna Seagrave for her selection as the Youth Category winner of the 2020 Outstanding Volunteer Awards. Ms. Seagrave has practiced the art of Inuit throat singing from her early years, and last year, volunteered her time teaching Weledeh Catholic School students her traditional art. Her instruction provides fulfillment for young women seeking cultural expression and creativity. Congratulations to Anna.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate those comments. Just very quickly, I am really concerned with these numbers. They are, as I understand, based on sales of diamonds. It's not a great time to be trying to sell diamonds. I understand that there is a global pandemic, but this is not what devolution promised us. The estimates of the day were $60 million in revenues. Moving forward, all of this was going to benefit everybody. When I see these kinds of figures, this is a real warning sign that we need to look at what revenues we actually get from resource development and how we manage the resources...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I am imminently eager. Is there any funding in this part of the budget for a new strategy or action plan? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. That is good news because they can only tie up the land now for 15 years, but as I understand it, they don't have to do one cent of work, nothing, which is not good news. I'm going to leave this one for now, and I do hope that people are paying attention to this because that system is still broken. I have one other question here. The next item, minerals, oil, and gas, the main estimate here for the current year was $30.7 million, and the figure here is just a dash. Is that really that we're predicting we're going to get zero dollars from mining and oil and gas royalties...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Can someone tell me about the status of the arts strategy itself? I understood it was supposed to be released by now, and I'm not sure where it's at. Thanks, Madam Chair.