Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would like a commitment out of the Minister. If he could just sort of identify how much in terms of the O and M budget is being devoted to these two projects, the Frank Channel bridge and the Slave Geological Province road, I would find that information helpful. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. In the Minister's opening remarks, I was kind of dazzled with all the millions of dollars that he was talking about. I am wondering how many millions of dollars are going towards the Slave Geological Province road in 2019-2020? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Members may speak to the object, expediency, principles, and merits of a bill at second reading, and I will exercise that right with the proposed changes to the Petroleum Resources Act.

I will speak to the process that got us here. I will also provide some comments on the bill and concerns with what is there and what is missing.

The Petroleum Resources Act set the rules on the rights to explore and produce oil and gas in those lands where the GNWT owns the resources. It sets out how the GNWT will act as the owner of onshore oil and gas resources and those...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that description. I don't think I got an answer to the question. I am going to ask this directly to the Minister: can the Minister make a commitment that, in future business plans, there is going to be more than just a dollar amount of the carryovers? That there is going to be some explanation of the reasons for the carryover, categorization of those reasons, and how the department is becoming to address those? If it takes a page or something in the business plans, I think that is time well spent, so that we understand, and his department seems to better...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today I reviewed how the Minister of Finance did not provide the information requested in my written questions on resource royalties from October 31, 2018. Can the Minister explain why the information requested, a breakdown of resource royalties from 1999 to 2017 by commodity type, was not provided in his response? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. On October 31, 2018, I asked a written question of the Minister of Finance requesting the value of annual production by individual non-renewal resource commodities extracted in the Northwest Territories from 1999 to 2017, along with royalties collected on such production by individual commodities. On February 12, 2019, the Minister tabled the production figures as requested, based on publicly available information compiled by Statistics Canada. The royalties collected; however, were only supplied for 2014 to 2017 and aggregated by oil and gas and then by minerals...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think I am asking for a simple commitment here. I would like to know whether the Minister is committed to get back to standing committee with (a) the reasons why the surplus is growing, and (b) what the department is going to do to try to get more money out the door to help victims of crime. Can the Minister make that commitment? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to thank my colleague from Yellowknife Centre for asking questions about the victim assistance funds. I just had a couple of quick ones, perhaps. Can the Minister tell us why the surplus is growing? Is it an issue of not enough applications to use up the funding, or are applicants being turned down? What is going on? Why is the surplus building? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. While I appreciate the Minister keeping a careful eye on it, that is not the same as an actual evaluation. I guess I remain to be convinced. Has the department reached out to the Law Society or defence counsel to get their views as to how this is being implemented and whether it is an improvement, or how it is affecting access to justice? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us, then, how this pilot project is going to be evaluated, and is he willing to share that evaluation with the appropriate standing committee? Thanks, Mr. Chair.