Kevin O'Reilly

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.

I want to thank the Minister for that. This is something I have been working on for most of my adult life here in the Northwest Territories, over 30 years, so I look forward to working with this Minister to try to get this where it needs to be. Strategic Oil and Gas, in preparing its conceptual closure and reclamation plan, relied on something called "Guidelines for Closure and Reclamation of Advanced Mineral Exploration and Mine Sites in the Northwest Territories." More than five years after devolution, our government does not appear to have put in place a coherent policy and regulatory...

Merci, Monsieur le President. In my statement earlier today, I noted that the publicly available end-of-life obligations for the Cameron Hills field as prepared by the court-appointed monitor appears to be over $12 million. The actual figure is probably much higher, and that leaves a significant shortfall from the $3 million held as financial security. My questions are for the Minister of Lands. Can the Minister explain how our government failed to ensure that financial security held for Cameron Hills does not at least equal the liabilities, and who will make up the difference? Mahsi, Mr...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to recognize one of my constituents, Brianna Hardisty. She is with the SADD group today. Earlier, we had another Frame Lake Page, Monika Kunderlik. I want to recognize her work. She is a repeat Page, so very pleased to have her here earlier in the sitting. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. We have had devolution now for five years, and we don't have a proper, robust regulatory framework for closure and reclamation in place, five years, Mr. Speaker. It is my view that the government doesn't really have a great track record in managing resources in the post-devolution world. In an unprecedented move, the Minister turned back a decision on a water licence amendment, following a request from a diamond mining company. Then unilateral changes were made to measures arising from an environmental assessment of the...

I want to thank the Minister for that detailed information. It didn't really still answer the question of how this happened under our watch. More than five years after devolution, it appears our government still doesn't have an early-warning system on operations like Strategic Oil and Gas, that place taxpayers at significant financial risk. The commitment to develop a financial security system to prevent public liabilities remains unfulfilled from the 18th Assembly. As GNWT is a big promoter of oil and gas development, can the Minister tell us what the plans are to prevent future public...

Merci, Monsieur le President. On August 20, 2018, I made a Member's statement on the environmental liabilities related to the Cameron Hills oil and gas field owned by Strategic Oil and Gas Limited. From the questions I asked the then Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, it appears the GNWT is on the hook for any shortfall between the roughly $3 million in financial security currently held and the unknown liability which the court-appointed monitor appears to have estimated at over $12 million, and possibly much, much higher.

Despite having a clear mandate from the 18th Assembly to...