Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So the trigger is going to be set by regulation. I get that. That's the way this has been drafted. The benefits are going to be set by regulation, so there is nothing stopping a future Minister from requiring benefits right back to prospecting through the entire mining cycle. Those benefits could include requiring local hiring, spending, the sorts of things that we do now. They could actually involve setting penalties. You know, this is just far too broad, Mr. Chair. There is no certainty created by this.

What it looks like is the department, the Minister wants to obtain...

I want to thank the Minister for that. That is exactly what I said in the House earlier today. Unfortunately, it comes a little bit late, as the company is now in creditor protection. This happened again under our watch. Can the Minister tell us, though, whether there is any way we can turn the liabilities from Cameron Hills field back to the federal government under the Devolution Agreement?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Ah, now we're getting somewhere. I raised these issues right at the beginning in some of my remarks on the bill, that it is a self-reporting mechanism, and there are different reporting periods, and there are different reporting entities. Are there any reasons why we couldn't disclose the royalties paid by each mine to the public? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Remain in force until amended or repealed to the regulations. That's the case. The old system for zones which were again a tool of government to promote exploration. They all remain in perpetuity, but any zone requested by an Indigenous government will expire after 15 years. That seems inconsistent with how this clause works. In actual effect of an Indigenous government requested zone, it will operate for no longer than 15 years, and then can be renewed, but the ones that the government has created and is carrying over from the old regime, will last forever. That seems to...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I know that it has been a long day, but I need to go on the record for my constituents so that they can see, in the future, what happened here tonight. I supported carbon tax as part of a comprehensive strategy for taking action on climate change. However, I don't support Cabinet's plan.

That plan is made up of three parts: the carbon tax bill that is before us this evening, Bill 42, which imposes, basically, a surcharge, a tax on some fuels. The other two parts of Cabinet's approach on this include the Energy Strategy, and I have spoken at length about the Energy...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have three specific things I guess I would like to raise with the Minister. We heard from Indigenous governments that this is a bill that was not developed collaboratively; there was no co-development process for it. I just would like an explanation from the Minister as to why that did not happen with this bill. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This was a motion that was introduced at the committee clause-by-clause review of the bill. It was supported by committee, but the Minister did not concur for the reasons that he just provided, the need for flexibility and so on to allow for some commercial operations not to have security required of them. The wording of this would make it mandatory to some degree that for dispositions for commercial or industrial use, that financial security would be required subject to whatever the Minister sets out in regulations. There, again, is an opportunity for the Minister to set...

I want to thank the Minister for that information. I don't think that I heard the words "habitat protection," though. I mentioned in my statement that Cabinet is still sitting on the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan. Can the Minister provide an update as to when Cabinet will approve this plan and announce that publicly?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Once again, I would turn to the work that committee has done to point out that committee received numerous submissions, representations from community governments, including the Town of Fort Smith, Town of Hay River, City of Yellowknife, representatives from the Town of Inuvik, the mayor in Enterprise, the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, all raising a litany of issues in trying to secure and manage lands within their boundaries.

We heard about the difficulties of acquiring additional Commissioner's lands within municipal boundaries; issues around control and...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources on the crisis of the Bathurst caribou herd. In the last sitting in June I asked the Minister about a trip that he took to Kugluktuk to meet with Nunavut officials. He has since provided a copy of the agenda for that meeting. Can the Minister provide an update of any further discussions with the Government of Nunavut to protect the Bathurst caribou herd? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.