Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Two document to table: excerpts from "Wha Ti Community Energy Plan - Options for Energy Supply and Management for Wha Ti, Northwest Territories"; and excerpts from "Northwest Territories Energy Report, May 2011." Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I'm not sure that $290,000 from our government is going to do it, but I guess that will be up to the 19th Assembly. I was on the ENR website this morning, and there is now a rudimentary public registry for protected areas. Can the Minister tell us what the plans are to complete a public registry, and when will it be fully functional?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. My understanding is that regulations must be in place to enable final protections for Thaidene Nene. Is this the case, and when will regulations be completed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Yesterday was a great day for the people of Lutselk'e, safeguarding our natural legacy for all NWT citizens, and development of the conservation economy. Leaders of the Governments of Canada, the Northwest Territories, and the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation officially signed the establishment agreements for the 26,000-square-kilometre protected area now formally known as Thaidene Nene. Mahsi cho for this important work.

This success came at the end of a long road that began in 1970, when land was set aside, and it was reignited in 2000, with the opening of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I know everybody is in a rush. Can I just get a commitment, then? I heard "suspect." Can we get a commitment to provide that information by email tomorrow? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I know that I have one minute left on the clock. Is Fortune Minerals paying any of this cost, and is this really to facilitate their development in some way? Is this the Government of the Northwest Territories providing a public subsidy for the development of their project? Is that what this is all about? Could I get an answer? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I see this project is going to take three years. Is there a ballpark figure that I can provide for the cost of this transmission line? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can someone tell me: I have a 2003 pre-feasibility study for hydroelectric on the Lac La Martre River. The predicted base load for the community was 1.2 megawatts. What is the capacity of the power line? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. In all the capital budgets that I've been involved in here, there was no effort to reach out to Regular MLAs and talk about what the priorities should be. Unfortunately, the same old game.

I can say that Regular MLAs did request a number of changes, and those were rejected, as well. It is the largest infrastructure acquisition plan during my time in this Assembly, and probably the largest ever. I recognize that a large portion of this is probably coming from the federal government, but they seem to be determining our priorities now.

I am also quite concerned about the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to concur with what the chair said. First off, what we heard: we heard from Indigenous governments. We heard from municipal governments. We heard from industry. We heard from NGOs, individual citizens. There is a lot of interest in the significant public policy matters that have been shunted off to regulations through these bills. A lot of the important substance matters of public interest are going to be developed by Ministers or Cabinet. There is no requirement in the bills for any public participation.

Committee tried, through amending the bills, different kinds of...