Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. Just a couple of points. What I see here is basically a cut and paste from the energy strategy of things that the previous Assembly had already signed onto. A lot of these projects, at least in the first one, are going to happen in the first couple of years. I am not sure that this is really going to advance us. What we need is an overall plan to get our communities off diesel, and I don't see that here. Is that something that is going to be developed? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to prolong this, but I guess I had hoped to see something about developing partnerships even within Yellowknife as part of the mandate. The city has the opportunity to develop a hotel levee; they haven't taken that up. I recognize that, but there could be work with Indigenous governments here in Yellowknife. There is federal money available for cultural centres, as well. I think you can be creative. If ITI can find ways to help with these kinds of partnerships, that would be great, but we do need proper visitor services in Yellowknife to make sure that people...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm looking at the second item on this page. Increase tourism in the NWT with a focus basically outside of Yellowknife. That's fine, but there are actually tourism needs in Yellowknife, and I would like to hear from the Premier how this government is going to support tourism in Yellowknife and around Yellowknife? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I'll be pretty blunt here. This is another example of a P3 gone wild, where the promise was made, when the Mackenzie Valley fibre link was built as a P3, that this was going to speed up access for all of our communities along the link and that all of the communities down the Mackenzie Valley would have access to high-speed Internet. It has not happened. I guess the Premier is saying that this is a really a private sector responsibility. Then it was a poorly designed P3 that only developed a fibre link that goes by communities and does not connect them. I see the...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate what the Premier said. I'm not suggesting that universal childcare feasibility study be redone. I'm not suggesting that the housing core needs study be redone. What I'm suggesting is that you use the existing people in the Department of Finance that are supposed to be doing macroeconomic analyses to do comparisons and sensitivity analyses amongst different kinds of scenarios of investing money so that we are going to get value for money. That's all I'm suggesting. Thanks, Madam Chair. If we don't get it, you know that I'm going to come back and ask again and...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Whether there's 19 or 22 is irrelevant, and I've made it clear that I didn't support some of them right from the very beginning, and you know that from the discussions we had internally about these. I disagreed about this one in particular. I just don't think we can afford it.

The Premier didn't answer my question. I want to know whether there's going to be an economic analysis done on other ways of investing the equivalent amount of money it would cost to build these projects to invest in housing or universal childcare. What kind of benefits would accrue to the North if we...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It's clear to many that we cannot afford an all-weather road into the Slave Geological Province, and that it would likely be the final blow to the Bathurst caribou herd. If our government is actually serious about caribou protection and intends to fulfil its legal obligations under the Species at Risk Act, when barren-ground caribou are listed as threatened, an all-weather road through their range should not proceed in the absence of successful recovery efforts. Can the Minister provide any assurance that this government will...

I want to thank the Minister for that response. There was quite a bit of discussion around the GNWT-Tlicho Government joint management proposal for wolf removal in relation to the Bathurst and Bluenose East caribou herds at the meeting on the weekend. The proposal still cannot be found on the Wek'eezhii Renewal Resources Board website; I'm not sure why. Can the Minister tell us who will make the determination if aerial shooting of wolves is required and on what basis that decision will be made?

Thanks, Madam Chair. I disagree with the Premier on this. I think we should have a plan. That is something that can be costed and taken to Ottawa for money, and that is something that Ottawa would be interested in seeing. I'm interested in seeing it as well.

I want to just speak briefly about one of these projects, the Whati transmission line. I raised this in the last Assembly. I've already had one e-mail exchange with the Minister of Infrastructure. I think this is not a sound project. For the money that that's going to cost, we could get mini hydro in three of the Tlicho communities. I just...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources for the invitation to the GNWT-Government of Nunavut research and management meeting on barren-ground caribou that was held this past Saturday. There were many Indigenous government leaders at the meeting, including the Tlicho chiefs, Lutselk'e Dene First Nation chief, Yellowknives Dene First Nation chiefs, North Slave Metis Alliance representatives, and also leaders from Nunavut, including Premier Joe Savikataaq, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Vice President James Eatoolook, and others. There...