Thanks, Mr. Chair. I didn't get a response to my question, of course, but as I understand it, the federal government has indicated to the Alberta government that they intend to implement the federal backstop in that jurisdiction effective January 1, 2020.

I do feel compelled to make a few remarks in response to what I believe I heard the Minister say. The Minister talked about the failure of the committee to take the bill on the road. I think it is also fair for the public to know, and I would suggest anybody who is really keen to look at the committee report, the committee really didn't have...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 46 be amended by adding the following after clause 61:

61.1 (1) A copy of each regulation that the Commissioner on recommendation of the Minister, or the Commissioner in Executive Council, as the case may be, proposes to make under this act shall be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette, and a reasonable opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the Minister in respect of the proposed regulations.

(2) No proposed regulation need be published more than once under subsection (1), whether or not it is altered or...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think that that is a problem with the workload that we all have, that some of these bills have not received the kind of consideration that they can and should have had, and I think that this is one in particular that can and should have been improved a lot more than what we see before us because of the amount of work. The public is not going to have any satisfaction that, the recommendations that committee spent a significant amount of time thinking about and putting before the House, that there is even going to be a response to it. Is there anything stopping the Minister...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. How is that information going to be communicated to the public? We had a significant number of individuals and municipal governments, Indigenous governments, come to committee and talk about some of the issues that committee raised in the report. How is this information about implementation of this bill, and maybe some potential fixes for some of these issues, communicated to the public? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Why wasn't that date actually put into the bill itself? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Clearly there is a problem, and there don't seem to be any solutions being offered by the Minister in the context of this bill. I guess I am going to have to find other ways to pursue this, maybe on the floor of the House, but I don't think that that leaves our taxpayers or the environment in a very good place.

Can someone from the department or the Minister indicate how the concept of "polluter pays" has actually been incorporated into this bill in any way? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I would like to start with a couple of questions for the Minister. Clause 80 deals with the coming-into-force date of the bill. Can the Minister tell us when that will be? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 42 be amended by adding the following after subclause 17(2):

(3) Section 23 is renumbered as subsection 23(1) and the following is added after that renumbered subsection:

(2) Subject to subsection (3), a copy of each regulation that the Minister proposes to make under paragraph (1)(d), (e), or (e.1) shall be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette, and a reasonable opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the Minister in respect of the proposed regulations.

(3) No proposed regulation need be published more than once...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just to get it clearly on the record, this was not a bill that was co-developed in a collaborative manner. I would like to ask the Minister about one issue raised with us around financial security by the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency. It is my understanding that, with a recent amendment to a water licence for one of the diamond mines, there was an adjustment made to financial security when they wanted to deepen a pit. The company came forward with a financial security which was not accepted by our government, because it dealt with both land and water related...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just would like to, well, first off, seek the advice of the law clerk first. The way the amendment reads that says that the Minister shall in accordance with the regulations require an applicant, blah, blah, blah, for a commercial or industrial use. As I understand this, the Minister could set thresholds in regulations, even for commercial or industrial uses, such that some would require financial security or certain types of thresholds. Is that a correct interpretation of this, or is that the kind of authority that the Minister has with this clause? Thank you, Mr. Chair.