Kevin O'Reilly

Frame Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 58)

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I would like to respectfully say that, if it was increased during a year with COVID, we are probably going to need more money for the year coming up, but I am going to leave it at that.

I want to move on to federal engagement, where the positions, the support money for that office in Ottawa has been cut. I was sceptical of that work to begin with, in the last Assembly, but I guess I pushed this with the Premier, some of my colleagues on the other side several times, about the importance of not just meeting with a party that is in political power, that holds the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thanks, Madam Chair. Is it just an accounting thing that it shows up in Finance rather than ECE? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thanks, Madam Chair. One more quick question: where does the supplementary reserve fit in on this page, somehow? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks for the response. I, too, want to speak to the Fiscal Responsibility Policy. I'm not sure that it really captures what happens with P3s in an adequate way because, as I am starting to understand a bit better, a lot of the P3 expenses and really long-term debt are being sort of taken out of the long-term borrowing plan and put in as operational expenses through the annual payments we have to make for the operation of the facility that are going to go on for 33 or 35 years, or whatever is left in the contract. I'm not trying to ascribe motives or blame or anything...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Thanks, Madam Chair. Is there a long-term capital plan for the NTPC or an asset management plan or something? Last year, they got $40 million in repayable bonds. This year, it's $105 million. It's jumping around. Is there a long-term capital plan, and if so, can the Minister provide that to us as Regular MLAs? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance: Please provide a list and amounts of all financial obligations to the Government of the Northwest Territories for the Ekati Mine at the time the property was sold to Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd., including the following:

An itemized listing of all outstanding amounts due to the Government of the Northwest Territories for payroll taxes, property taxes, corporate taxes, mining royalties, carbon taxes, fuel taxes, land lease rents, water use fees, Worker's Safety and Compensation Commission assessments, and any...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

I want to thank the Minister for that report on the health of the fund, but she did not really answer my question about why there is going to be so little to pass on to future generations. The problems with the fund started with the very low rates at which we capture revenues from resource development. There is no legally set revenue stream for the heritage fund and no public governance. As we approach the 10-year mandatory review, what is the Minister going to propose to ensure that we capture and retain a fair share of resource revenues for future generations?

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. In my statement, I described the legal requirement for tabling of an annual report for the Heritage Fund in this House. Can the Minister explain why this legal requirement has not been fulfilled for several years and whether she will immediately bring the reporting up to date? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. I wish the Minister was here two or three years ago, when this was being talked about because I raised that at that point and was kind of fluffed off and nothing was done. I shouldn't say nothing was done. It just seems like we have not made the progress that I think we should have. I just have one more question on this, which is: I presume that responsiveness to departmental needs is going to be one of the performance indicators; can someone confirm that and how it's going to generally be measured in some way? Because part of the rationale for doing this was that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 54)

Merci, Monsieur le President. Since its inception in 2012, the NWT Heritage Fund has grown to a very small amount of less than $30 million. During that time, the value of our petroleum and mineral production was about $18 billion. Of course, there were and continue to be benefits from resource development, but $30 million is not a lot to pass along to future generations for this one-time natural capital. That is less than 0.2 percent of the value of these resources. The purpose of the Heritage Fund is set out in legislation. It is "to ensure that future generations of people of the Northwest...