Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The federal Minister of Northern Affairs was here several months ago. I had asked whether you had a chance to meet with him, but I can take that offline. The remediation of Giant Mine has the potential to allow the NWT to develop and expand remediation economy, given the number and scale of contaminated sites across the NWT. This should also be one area of focus for the polytechnic university. I suggest in this House, Mr. Speaker, that the GNWT should seek an accelerated federal investment in NWT contaminated sites to help...

I have props, too, but I can't use them. The problem seems to be that no one is taking the leadership and responsibility to ensure that Northerners, especially Indigenous peoples, do not continue to lose out from the tragedy that is Giant Mine. Can the Minister tell us what specific action over the last year his department and others in the GNWT have taken to secure northern benefits?

Merci, monsieur le President. On May 19th, the Giant Mine oversight board released its fourth annual report. Once again, the failure to deliver socioeconomic benefits to Indigenous peoples and northern residents is front and centre. Since 2005-2006, about $500 million has been spent on the Giant Mine site. It is estimated that another $750 million will be spent on future active remediation. After that, annual perpetual care costs are estimated at $2.35 to $5.66 million for the next 100 years. This will be the largest-ever government-funded capital project in the Northwest Territories.

Northern...

I want to thank the Premier for that. It sounded a lot like her response to the first question I had. I guess what I want to know clearly from the Premier is: is there a travel bubble through the public health order process between Nunavut and Northwest Territories, and what is the situation with Yukon?

Merci, monsieur le President. Early in this sitting, I raised the issue of a pan-territorial travel zone with the Premier. Today, on CBC, it was reported that the Nunavut Health Minister, along with the Chief Public Health Officer in Nunavut, announced that there is going to be a travel bubble between the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. We had the Minister of Health on the floor of this House today say that there is not going to be a bubble with the Yukon, because they're going to open up with BC. I would like to ask the Premier: what's going on with all of this, and why are we finding out...

I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm just going to get a little more personal here. Can the Minister tell us what he has done personally and whether he has raised the issue of northern benefits with the federal Minister of Northern Affairs and if not, why?

Merci, monsieur le President. I don't think that I have had the pleasure of asking the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about benefits from the Giant Mine Remediation Project, but he sat next to me in the last Assembly, so this won't come as a surprise. The Giant Mine oversight board is again making recommendations about securing northern benefits. The remaining expenditures during active remediation are the equivalent of spending on another Stanton hospital. Has the Minister read the most recent report from the board, and does he support the recommendations? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier for that. What I would like to seek now is a commitment from the Premier that she is going to provide us with an update following her emergency meeting with the other two Premiers that she says she is going to have this evening. Look, I understand that the Chief Public Health Officers are independent. That is what we want; we want them independent of everybody, including Cabinet, quite frankly, during a pandemic and an emergency. I would like to seek a commitment from the Premier that she will provide an update to us as Regular MLAs...

I am sorry that I had to put the Premier on the hot spot, but when I am finding out these things on the floor of the House and in the media, there is a lot of public interest in this. Can the Premier, then, explain what is going on? Is there a travel bubble now with Nunavut, and what is the situation with Yukon?

Merci, Monsieur le President. As I mentioned in my statement earlier today, there has been no communication from Cabinet to Regular MLAs on what GNWT is doing or not with regard to creditor protection proceeding on the Dominion Diamond group of companies. Can the Premier tell us when GNWT began participating in the legal proceeding and what roles do we expect to play? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.