Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I want to thank the Premier for that response. It's good to hear that board governance is something that is under review. I'm just curious; the deputy ministers who are sitting on boards, do they receive any instructions from Ministers in terms of what they are to do on those boards, or are they at least at arm's length? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. There are some fairly significant changes here. I know that last year, 2019-2020, of course was an election year, so I would expect to see a big increase in expenditures for the year. It has dropped down to $439,000 for 2020-2021, which is lower than the actuals for 2018-2019. Can I get an explanation as to what is happening here? Thanks, Madam Chair. Then I flip the page. I see that there were three full-time staff last year, and now there are no staff. What’s happening here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks. After a while, we all look the same. Thanks, Madam Chair. I think that this is the part of Executive and Indigenous Affairs where board appointments are, sort of, tracked and so on. I do want to commend even the previous government did a better job at making sure that there was gender balance in our appointments to GNWT committees, boards, and councils, but what we saw in the last Assembly was a trend towards appointment of deputy ministers -- I guess, sometimes they're government employees, and sometimes they're not -- to boards. What is the plan for this Cabinet, moving forward? Are...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I know that one of the recommendations from the Independent Commission to Review Members' Compensation and Benefits -- I may not get the name of it right -- was to look at the issue of benefits for constituency assistants and to actually include that as a program that we would offer constituency assistants. Is this where I would find that, and can someone point me to the line item where that might show an increase? Thanks, Madam Chair.

I think that was actually a yes. Just as we have millions of dollars of environmental liability from Cameron Hills hurtling towards us, because we failed to make sure that there was proper financial security in place, these regulations that the Minister is talking about are one page long. She doesn't have to do a big review. She can change them tomorrow if she wants, just gazette the new limits. Can the Minister tell us: is she clearly committed to increasing the absolute liability caps in the Oil and Gas Spills and Debris Liability Regulations?

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm just trying to plant the seed now because, certainly, I never got to meet a federal Minister in the last Assembly. I had a strong interest in a number of issues but was never invited to meet with federal Ministers. As an example, the leader of the Green Party, and I'm not a member of the Green Party, she came to Yellowknife. I got her in to speak to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment. That's the kind of doors that I think we should look at be opening for each other. I don't want you to just work with the governing party. There are other...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the very agreeable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, who sets regulations for onshore oil and gas resources and also promotes such development. The Oil and Gas Spills and Debris Liability Regulations set absolute liability limits of between $10 and $40 million, depending on the location of the spill or debris caused by oil and gas exploration and development. Can the Minister explain why there are these liability caps in place and what public purpose they serve? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I think the Premier misunderstood my question. Maybe that's because I was speaking too quietly. I'm asking if we have a federal lobbyist firm, a company that does a registered federal lobbyist in Ottawa. Do we still retain those services? Thanks Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I don't want to go off on a long tirade here, but if we want to convince the federal government that we can actually do a good job managing our resources, we have to do a lot better. We've had devolution in place for five years. There were some legislative changes made in the last Assembly, and we improved a lot of that legislation as it went through the Regular MLAs, but there is a number of things that have happened: Cantung went into receivership; we were on the hook; we were able to offload that back to the federal government; Cameron Hills; the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, this should make for some very interesting discussions when it comes to the supplementary appropriation in May-June, where we're going to try to get the biggest bang for our bucks. It's wonderful that the Minister and I are on the same page on this, and I look forward to more money in the supp for this particular investment. I want to go, though, to the funding formula for schools. I think that the Minister, even today, has said that that's something that is going to be reviewed. I'm just wondering if he can give us a little bit more explanation of how and when that's...