Kevin O'Reilly

I would be delighted to join the Minister in his office and work away on his computer with him. I am sure that there is going to be a big public information campaign rolling out about these transitions within the old and new hospitals and so on.

Part of that campaign should include information about how services will transition from the old Stanton hospital to offsite, and the Minister has given some of that, during the renovations. Then, of course, they are going to return to the Stanton legacy building that the Minister referred to. Can the Minister tell us when all of this information is...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to speak to the process that resulted in the bill. I will also provide some comments on the bill and concerns with what is there and what is missing.

This is a much anticipated bill and should be the spring board for building opportunities for public and private investment into a conservation economy. This law will help build strong and sustainable communities and promote cultural survival and economic diversification. I recognize that a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this bill and thank everyone involved for their efforts. This is...

I want to thank the Minister for that commitment. I recognize that Cabinet views OROGO as a bit of a hot potato. It appears to me that OROGO's doing a good job. I mentioned that earlier, even though there are limited oil and gas activities, they're doing some work on old wells, which is good. I'd like to ask the Minister whether our government has given any thought to asking the federal government to end the reign of the National Energy Board over the onshore areas of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and, if not, why not?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of the Justice, who is the regulator for oil and gas legislation in the Northwest Territories, at least in those areas where we have jurisdiction. Can the Minister tell us why the federal National Energy Board is the regulator of onshore and offshore oil and gas development in the Inuvialuit region? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The deputy minister writes a pretty good Minister's statement there. That is excellent. All good news.

More seriously, though, it would be helpful to get this out, because I think it is a good news story, and the Minister knows that I have been bugging him about this for at least three years, as long as I have been here. It is a good news story, and I do appreciate the work of the department and his staff to move this forward.

This is a great investment of money and will have long-term payoffs, all the way down to those kids who will become productive adults in our society. I...

Thanks. I appreciate the commitment made by the Minister, and I will look forward to getting that information. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the passion of the Minister on this. Any idea as to when the waiting times might be available? Is there a plan in place to do this? With the system transformation and so on, I understand that there's probably still some work that needs to be done there to standardize reporting and so on, but is it the Minister's intention to try to have this work done, what quarter of, say, 2019-2020, where the public could expect to start to see some wait times maybe posted to a website or whatever? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that information. The phase two increases, are they found in this budget, or are they spread out over a number of years? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will wait until we get to that part of the main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I will not speak to the process that got us here with ENR, as I covered that in my previous remarks on Bill 38, but I will also provide some comments on the bill and concerns with what is there and what is missing.

The original Environmental Rights Act was passed as a private Member's bill by the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in 1990. The bill was sponsored by former Yellowknife Centre MLA Brian Lewis, who modelled his bill after a similar statute in the state of Michigan. I wish to recognize his important contribution to the public interest. The...