Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank the Minister for that information. We have been informed by the Yellowknife education authorities that the overwhelming opinion of parents is that they want money spent on education rather than holding elections. Does the Minister agree that additional costs for separate elections by education authorities to conduct their own elections would be better spent on children's education?

Merci, Monsieur le President. Over the last few months, Yellowknife MLAs met with trustees of Yellowknife Catholic schools and Yellowknife District No. 1 and the Commission scolaire francophone Territoires du Nord-Ouest. The City of Yellowknife held a plebiscite on extending the term of office for its councillors to four years from three in 2018. Of the Yellowknife voters who voted, 60.6 percent were in favour, and a bylaw to extend the term of office for mayor and council to four years was passed.

The term of office for Yellowknife City Council and Yellowknife Education Authorities are now out...

I want to thank the Minister for the straightforward response. The situation for CSFTNO is different, as I mentioned in my statement, in that its commissaires represent two communities that now have different cycles for their municipal elections. To me, it sounds like the best solution here may be to allow education authorities to set their own terms of office, with approval of the Minister, of course. I am sure that the Minister is aware of this complication, but I am wondering whether his department has contemplated a solution for the term of office issue for CSFTNO.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on the issue of coordination of municipal and education authorities' terms of office. Can the Minister tell us whether and when he has received any formal request from the Yellowknife education authorities or CSFTNO requesting changes to allow for a four-year term? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, monsieur le President. My question is for the Premier. Cabinet Ministers and GNWT staff travelled to Vancouver during the week of January 18 to 23, 2020, to attend the Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup. Can the Premier provide a list of all the NWT Ministers and staff who travelled to Vancouver for the meeting, and:

total cost of travel, including transportation, showing air travel by executive versus economy class, accommodations, expenses, and associated allowances;

any related contract costs for the trip, particularly costs of conference registration, exhibitor staffing, any...

That's great to hear from the Minister, that we've got a transboundary water agreement, but that shouldn't stop us from taking a position on this project that's upstream of us. We're not going to get any benefits; we're just going to get the effluent downstream. I'd like to know from the Minister: he's talked about this transboundary water agreement with Alberta. What help can that agreement give us in terms of adverse impacts?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. The 24,000-acre Teck Resources Frontier tar sands mine is heading for a decision by the federal government very soon. It's going to operate for over 40 years. An independent panel has reviewed the project and found that there would be high-magnitude, irreversible impacts on the environment; it's upstream of us. So I'd like to ask the Minister whether this government has actually participated in the environmental assessment of this project. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time. This is an emergency. We know where some of these areas are. There have been several traditional knowledge studies and other work that has identified this key habitat. Key habitat lies on both sides of the NWT-Nunavut boundary. Can the Minister provide an update as to the status of the negotiations towards a transboundary caribou agreement with the Government of Nunavut, and what role will Regular MLAs play?

Merci, Monsieur le President. As I understand it, the previous cabinet approved the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan. Can the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources tell us how he intends to implement this range plan when there are no resources or timelines identified in the plan? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that response. Monitoring is great, but how is that actually going to protect residents of the Northwest Territories from this upstream development? What is this agreement, and what is this government actually prepared to do to protect our residents and our environment? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.