Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm not sure I'm the director of Finance.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I know it has been raised in this House by members of the public that sometimes the turnaround in the rental office doesn't always meet people's expectations. Has there been any assessment of the workload of that office and the resources that they have available? Thanks, Madam Chair.

I want to thank the Minister for that. I know I'm kind of skating close to the line here, but I do think that the public deserves to know what kind of liabilities are outstanding. I mentioned in my statement how GNWT now holds $295 million in financial securities of the Ekati Mine to ensure it fully complies with its regulatory requirements around reclamation. I understand the Wek'eezhii Land and Water Board is still conducting a review of parts of the third version of the inner enclosure reclamation plan that was submitted in August 2018. Can the Premier tell us whether the financial...

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.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Thanks for that explanation. Is there like a cap or set by policy, by regulation, by legislation, on how much can actually stay in the fund? Are there any guidelines on disbursement percentages or something? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess some of this goes back to in previous business plans when we were doing them in that way. We actually had some performance indicators, some way of judging how resourcing levels affected the level of service. We don't have that for this particular service and entity. At some point, we're going to have to look at how the engaging, monitoring, and access to services and turnaround service standards, times, whatever, is measured in resourcing is appropriately allocated. I will take the Minister's word at it for now. The wait times have come down. They probably still...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. I am looking at page 286, and I see that, 2018-2019, there was actually $292,000 spent in the office, and the budget for 2020-2021 is only $238,000, so there might have been some extra money spent in the one year. Can I get an explanation of what might, on the surface, look like a downward trend in resourcing? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister of Finance for that. I guess I'm not quite as optimistic as the plan. It's still under review. Until that's done and we get an up to date security estimate, I'm not sure it's fair to say that it is completely up to date. In any event, for the first time I can recall, GNWT accepted surety bonds as financial security at the Ekati Mine. Insurance companies don't stay in business by paying claims. Can the Premier or the Minister of Finance tell us with complete confidence that the form of financial security, surety bonds, from insurance...

I want to thank the Minister for that. The Ekati Mine provides a substantial amount of revenue to the GNWT in the form of payroll taxes, property taxes, corporate taxes, sometimes, when it files in the Northwest Territories, mining royalties, carbon and fuel taxes, and more. Can the Premier tell us whether any of the Dominion Diamond group of companies have any outstanding liabilities to GNWT and what are those amounts and types of liabilities?

Thanks, Madam Chair. In no way am I'm going to suggest that these people are not doing their job. As the Minister says, I think they get together once a year or something to look at applications. Whether the issue is it's not well enough advertised, what is available there, whatever. I will probably ask these questions next year, so I hope to see more of it going out the door to help victims of crime. I think the Minister recognizes that there's an issue with a growing surplus, and she's going to find a way to make sure we get more of the money out the door. Thanks, Madam Chair.