Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I have raised this issue of caribou in the House many times. The Bathurst caribou herd is in a desperate state, only 8,000 animals, down from a high of 480,000; yet our government has not concluded any extra funding in the 2019-2020 budget for this crisis.

I would like to know from the Minister whether this recent meeting is going to result in any real action to save the Bathurst caribou herd. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that commitment, and I look forward to getting the information. There are no temporary or permanent protection measures in place for key habitats of any of the transboundary barren-ground caribou herds shared by the NWT and Nunavut. Can the Minister tell us what the outcomes were at this meeting, whether there is going to be any protection of caribou calving grounds?

Merci, Monsieur le President. As the Member whose riding has the new Stanton Territorial Hospital, I am welcoming the new facility, which officially opened yesterday, to Frame Lake.

The Minister of Health and Social Services has provided statements on the new Stanton Territorial Hospital and its many features and attributes, and even today in his Minister's statement, as well. I will not repeat these, but I would like to focus on a few key areas and improvements.

First of all is the space. The 280,000-square-foot new building approximately doubles the size of the old Stanton Hospital. Operating...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I noted in the Minister's remarks that he indicated that the Information and Privacy Commissioner and other GNWT departments have been engaged in the development of the legislation. That is a good thing. I didn't hear anything about engagement with Indigenous governments. I assume, then, that the Minister has not heard directly from Indigenous governments on this issue.

I don't really understand what the problem is. Nunavut has the exact same wording in its legislation dating from 2006. They have had this in place and working now for 12-and-a-half years. If there had been a...

If everything works out right, maybe I will be at that meeting in the fall.

Cabinet continues to push ahead with planning and spending on an all-weather road into the heart of the range of the Bathurst caribou herd, while there are plans for a similar joint road on the Nunavut side that would pass through the calving grounds of this herd. Can the Minister tell us whether there was any discussion of the road proposals and their obvious detrimental impacts on the Bathurst caribou herd and what the outcomes of those discussions were?

Merci, Monsieur le President. There were media reports of a meeting between the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and Nunavut officials in Kugluktuk in April of this year. Can the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources provide some background information on the meeting, such as who was there, and table a copy of the agenda so that we can see what was discussed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Premier for that announcement of changes to the carbon tax proposal on the floor of the House. The Auditor General's finding on our failed climate change leadership has not really been addressed. Cabinet has made no changes to provide the required leadership and authority to take real action on the climate change crisis. Can the Premier tell us why Cabinet has rejected the calls for a climate change act, mandatory consideration of climate change implications in all of our spending, and infrastructure submissions that prioritize projects that show the greatest GHG...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I just want to set this up. Cabinet's climate change plan or approach is really made up of the energy strategy, the Climate Change Strategic Framework, and the carbon tax. My questions are to the Premier as Minister of the Executive and intergovernmental affairs. I'd like to know: how can the NWT possibly achieve the Pan-Canadian Greenhouse Gas Reduction targets when 44 percent of those reductions are to come from the mega-project Taltson expansion, and there's no money to build it; no confirmed buyers either north of the lake or into the provinces? How can we...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Premier for that response. I don't think that committees are going to cut it. There has been one new committee established. The standing committee that reviewed the Climate Change Strategic Framework asked for a climate change act, some real action. That is not what we have.

While we have the students here in the gallery, we need some new leadership, vision, and action to deal with the climate change crisis. What would the Premier like to say to our youth to instil hope and confidence that the NWT is doing its part to meet the climate change...

I want to thank the Premier for raising the diamond mines, which is really my next question. Cabinet's carbon tax proposal, released in July 2018, is really unfair, as the largest emitters, the diamond mines, will get everything back. Individuals, families, and small businesses will subsidize the required GNWT contributions, the Taltson expansion, and the limited investments into renewables. Can the Premier tell us why the diamond mines will get all of the carbon tax that they pay back as rebates and grants from individualized accounts?