Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that and, yes, so I think he's confirmed that unpaid emergency leave is within the scope of the Employment Standards Act. But is the issue of paid emergency leave within the scope of the current public engagement on the Employment Standards Act and how does the Minister propose to ensure amendments deal with future evacuations and similar emergencies? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Madame la President. I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Merci, Monsieur le President.

My questions are for the Minister of Finance. The Government of the Northwest Territories is increasingly using publicprivate partnerships or P3 financing for large capital projects. P3 project accounting and disclosure is an area that continues to evolve. To better understand what P3 projects the GNWT has initiated, their costs and impacts on public financing, please provide a list and a brief description of all P3 projects undertaken by the GNWT with partners for each P3 project and:

1. The original projected capital costs, operating costs, debt servicing costs...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Deputy Premier for that. I didn't hear the word crisis or emergency. I heard serious, but I didn't hear the right words. So I'm going to try it a different way, Mr. Speaker.

I mentioned in my statement that I've only ever heard one senior person in this government ever use the word crisis or emergency next to the word climate. So can the Deputy Premier tell us whether the public service are allowed to call climate change a crisis or an emergency? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Deputy Premier.

The establishment policy for the new Department of Environment and Climate Change came into effect on April 1st, 2023. Can the Deputy Premier tell us whether this government acknowledges that the current climate emergency is the result of human activities and explain why that doesn't appear in the policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In December 2019, I called on this Cabinet to declare a climate emergency. I tabled a draft motion, I got resistance from Cabinet; what's happened since?

I confess I gave up on a motion with the COVID pandemic which seems to have overtaken everything we do as a government. However, there are now over 650 Canadian governments that have made a climate emergency declaration including the federal, territorial, provincial, municipal, and Indigenous governments. This government's climate emergency failures and lack of leadership has got me going again.

On April 1st, 2023...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I give notice that on Monday, May 29, 2023, I will present Bill 91, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 2, to be read for the first time. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I just wish that the GNWT would get on board and, you know, join one of the 650 other Canadian jurisdictions that have made a climate emergency declaration, so. But in all the debate and public statements I've seen from this government around a carbon tax, I don't ever recall it being clearly linked or described as a tool to fight the climate emergency. So can the Deputy Premier confirm that the real purpose of the NWT carbon tax is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I can I'm raising that concern right now, and it's not in the definition, but let's move on to the next question.

Nowhere in the establishment policy is it acknowledged or recognized that climate change in the NWT is a crisis or an emergency. And I will tell the Minister this was raised by standing committee. So can the Deputy Premier tell us whether this government considers climate change a crisis or an emergency for the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to acknowledge three St. Patrick High School students who are Frame Lake residents serving as pages in this sitting: Ava Maurice, Deniye Lockhart, and Kyla. Mahsi, merci, and thank you.