Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank the Minister for confirming that. If the insurance companies would not agree to the sale of the Ekati Mine to the new entity, it raises questions of what our Cabinet's position is. Regular MLAs were not consulted in any way on this sale. Can the Minister tell us what Cabinet's position was or is on the sale to the new entity and who else it was conveyed to and when?

Merci, Monsieur le President. On June 3rd, I made a statement in this House about the uncertainty and lack of Cabinet communications surrounding the creditor protection proceeding for Dominion Diamond affiliates. The latest news is that the proposed sale of Ekati Mine has fallen through because the insurance companies that issued surety bonds covering the reclamation liabilities would not agree to the deal. The surety bonds cover about $280 million of the $295 million financial security for work that is supposed to be done in place under various licences and permits.

The GNWT now has total...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of the matter of privilege referred by Motion 5-19(2) on March 11, 2020. To date, the committee has held numerous meetings to discuss this important and complex issue. A public hearing previously scheduled for October has been postponed to November 17, 2020, to allow the committee to further promote public engagement on the use of official languages in this Legislative Assembly.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that the review period for this matter of...

I want to thank the Minister for that. I would just like to know a little more about how she intends to keep Regular MLAs informed about what is happening and what the position of our government is that is being put forward, moving forward.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to ask some more questions of the Minister of Finance around the Dominion Diamond situation, and I apologize. She doesn't have these questions before her. I know that, in her responses to some questions I asked earlier today, she talked about how the GNWT is involved in these proceedings and that they make sure that the court knows about the business interests at stake. Of course, we all want to see the mine continue, but one thing I didn't hear the Minister talk about was: we have a lot of workers at the mine site. Some of them are actually organized, as...

Merci, Monsieur le President. [English translation not provided.] I have tried to choose my words very carefully. Firstly, I would like to thank the residents of Frame Lake and indeed all the Northwest Territories citizens who have shared their views with me. I have seriously reviewed and considered them. I take the issue of removal of a Cabinet Minister very seriously. This is not a process or decision that I have taken lightly or quickly.

There are a couple of points I would like to start with. Firstly, processes and rules at the Legislative Assembly have evolved over many years and have...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier again. I think this is a very significant step forward. Part of my concern here is that the Dehcho Land Use Plan has been in development for 19, count them, 19 years, and at first, the obstacle was the federal government because they owned the land, and the GNWT was at the table, but now the obstacle is our government. We own the land, and our government is the obstacle. I have heard this from people involved in the process. The concern is too much land being protected and so on. You have to give the communities the right to decide what...

Thanks, very much to the Premier for that. According to the Government of Canada webpage, it says that Edehzhie will be established as a national park area under the Canada Wildlife Act in 2020. That's this year. I think the permanent withdrawal is helpful, but what we really need is the transfer of the lands back to the federal government, or perhaps some other arrangement to prevent this from being undone in the future. Can the Premier tell us whether we're still on schedule for the establishment as Edehzhie as a National Wildlife Area, and what role this government intends to play?

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to provide an update on the state of the Bathurst caribou herd since we last sat in March. March 13, 2020, the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board decided that the proposed 2020 wolf cull could proceed as a pilot project. The board will conduct a more rigorous review of the remaining four years of the proposed program beginning in August of this year. This revised proposal should also include "lesson learned" from the implementation of the 2020 management actions. The board said that "it is clear that communication in advance of the submission of...

I'm still a little confused here. Presumably, then, somebody coming in, even if they're a Canadian citizen, non-Canadian citizen, can camp out at the airport for 14 days, and then they've cleared self-isolation, and then they can travel anywhere in the Northwest Territories. Is that how this could work, Mr. Speaker? Thanks.