Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Madam la Presidente. Committee wishes to deal with Bill 80, Tabled Document 97319(2), Tabled Document 97419(2), Committee Report 5219(2), and Committee Report 7519(2). Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I recognize it's very late in the day, but I have to go on record as to how I'm going to vote so I believe that the bill was not particularly well crafted. There was a pause when it was the Minister kind of took it back and went back to Indigenous governments, tried to do some engagement. So I believe that there's really there was inadequate consideration of Indigenous rights in the development of the bill. I'm concerned that the bill doesn't bind the Government of the Northwest Territories, which is the largest contracting authority. What's the point of trying...

Merci, Monsieur le President. If it's not the case that they've done that engagement, I really urge that this department do that work.

I guess my next question, Mr. Speaker, is once these are finalized, what sort of public communications is there going to be? Because this will have implications for people that buy and sell land, real estate agents, banks that do financing. This has got some pretty serious implications. So what is the department going to do to communicate these new guidelines to the public and interested parties? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Like my colleague, who serves as chair of the committee, we did talk about this and I'm not sure I can share my colleague's characterization of committee reports. Committee reports are from a committee. They're not from one or two Members. And believe me, I've seen the how hard the clerks work to make sure that there is consensus from committee, and if needs a majority vote, it gets a vote. Reports are not from one or two Members; they are from a committee. And that's the way it needs to be interpreted in this House so I don't feel very good about my colleague's...

Mr. Speaker, I have some further questions I'd like to pursue with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on this arsenic remediation guideline matter. It's not clear whether this new work went through any kind of an internal or external review or was discussed with interested comanagement bodies, such as the land and water boards or even the Giant Mine Oversight Board. So can the Minister tell us who was consulted during the development of these new arsenic remediation guidelines, and can he summarize what happened or make a commitment to make that information public? Mahsi, Mr...

Yeah, thanks. Well, I'm not going to try to answer my colleague's question directly. But I guess the expectation coming into an Assembly is that Regular Members, Members who are not on the Cabinet side, would sit on two committees. This wasn't a requirement. And then this Assembly, that didn't happen, which increased the workload for the remaining Members. So this is, I think, in response to just try to lay not just lay out that as an expectation in the future. This is more of a requirement, dare we say, that if you're going to get elected here, you serve as a Regular Member, you're...

Yeah, merci, Monsieur le President. I spent about an hour and a half looking at the material last night. Way over my head, so it's definitely not plain language. But the new guideline would reduce the acceptable limits for arsenic in soil related to all uses compared to the 2003 guidelines. However, the new guidelines would allow Yellowknife residents to be exposed to, in some cases, three times as much arsenic as those people living outside of Yellowknife.

So can the Minister try to explain why it is okay to expose Yellowknifers to, in some cases, three times as much arsenic compared to those...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I love clarity. I want to thank the Minister for that. And, yeah, it'll be up to the next batch of MLAs to watch that line going forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on the socalled public engagement on the environmental guideline for contaminated site remediation. It also includes the arsenic remediation guidelines. These revisions have taken 20 years, Mr. Speaker. On the heavier same web page, the review period is now about seven weeks, not including the evacuation period. So can the Minister explain why this public engagement is so short and at the very end of the life of this Assembly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, sorry. I misspoke; I'm really tired. But is this a onetime increase to the shortterm borrowing limit? Thank you, Madam Chair.