Kevin O'Reilly

Frame Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, I would like to just get some details. Is some of this money for engagement with Indigenous governments, or what is this work that's being carried over? What's that all about? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. The Minister is full of good news today, and that is sincerely good news. I appreciate the work on that, and I do want this money to be well-used. The next line item is $2.6 million. This is for continuing to roll out the child and youth counsellor program. I think the Deh Cho has already been done, if I remember correctly, and I think it might be the Tlicho region. Now it's Yellowknife's turn, which is good, but I've heard some concerns here because some of the Yellowknife schools already had some individuals doing some of these functions. There was some concern that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Are we concluding the consideration of the supplementary right now? I want to seek indulgence of the committee to go back to page 15, the last item on the page. It says, "Taltson Expansion, pre-construction, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada," and there is an amount close to $2 million. I would just like to know what that is about, please. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to relive this debate. The fact is that this was targeted by the federal government to support essential service workers, but our government made a decision and then negotiated this with the federal government that all low-wage earners in the Northwest Territories should be eligible. I want to commend the Minister for doing that. That was the right thing to do. Anyway, we made the decision to broaden the application of what was a federal program intended for essential services to cover everybody here who gets a low income, to help them get through the pandemic...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. The last piece of correspondence I can see from GNWT on the public registry is dated November 29, 2018. It's a promise that there is further work that's going to take place and that government's going to update the board with regard to its anticipated timelines. When does this government expect to re-engage with the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board restart this process? It's been like a year and a half since they've communicated with the review board. What is going on? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. The Minister is well prepared. I appreciate that. With regard to the uptake on the wage top-up program, I think there are about 2,100 people who might be eligible based on statistical tracking. What is the uptake like as of the most recent number the Minister can give us? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Please provide a list of all contracts entered into by the Government of the Northwest Territories for work related to the Taltson Hydro Expansion, including studies on submarine transmission lines, from September 1, 2015, to present, and:

Indicate the date of the contract signing, date of completion or anticipated completion, whether the contract was sole-sourced, the value of the contract, the general purpose or scope of the work, whether there were any financial or scope amendments and a summary of same, and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. I did give the Minister a heads-up that I would ask her some questions about some of these matters. The line of $23,400,000, that's to help cover some of our extraordinary costs related to the pandemic. Can the Minister tell us how much we've actually spent on self-isolation where we helped put up our residents, and in some cases, essential service workers, in hotels and pay for their meals and so on? What have we spent on that so far? Let's start with that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

That's great news from the Minister. I am glad to hear that we are weeks away from flipping the secrecy onus. I certainly pushed very hard to get the public registry as part of the legislation. In my statement, I also referenced the extraordinary power and discretion of Cabinet and the Minister in deciding what, how, and when benefits might be secured from mineral development through enforceable agreements or plans. Can the Minister tell us what the implications of the Acho Dene Koe First Nation court case are in relation to securing benefits under the Mineral Resources Act, and when will...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 30)

Thanks, Madam Chair. I want to be fair here. I support spending more on climate change, but without getting into the action plan itself, it is probably in the neighbourhood of about 50 pages. As I said, pages and pages and pages of action areas, potential partners, potential resources, but none of it is costed. This was a criticism of the action plan when it was being developed from SCEDE. We tried to encourage the Minister of the day to include some costing with some of this. Now we're being asked to approve $1.4 million without knowing what it's going to be spent on. I want to invest more on...