Kevin O'Reilly

Okay. How come it did last time? Is it crafted differently this time? What's the difference here, and thanks, Madam la Presidente.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following two documents: March 28th, 2023, CBC News story, "Nunavut flips stance on caribou protection again, now supports development ban on calving grounds; and, February 24th, 2023, Government of Nunavut Response to Final Written Submissions on the Nunavut Land Use Plan. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to prolong this. I guess I would urge the Minister and the staff to try to find a way to get that done before the end of this Assembly. You know, legislative proposal, it doesn't have to be super detailed. Just tell us what you want to do in phase two and start talking to people now about it. So if you can do it before the end of the Assembly, please do it. Thanks, Madam Chair. That's all I got.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister. Of course, I am not opposed to collecting data but triggering an environmental assessment while a regional study is going on? That's ridiculous. I am concerned that this government seems to think that it's a good idea to have a regional study as requested by the Tlicho government yet push ahead with a road at the same time that will have irreversible impacts on caribou. So can the Premier tell us what is the point of doing a regional study if a separate environmental assessment is triggered for the Lockhart AllSeason Road? Mahsi, Mr...

Thanks, Madam Chair. Kind of seems like a lifetime ago but I actually served on city council in Yellowknife in 1997 to 2006, and I remember being at probably more than one conventions of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities where motions were passed, asking for changes to this piece of legislation. And so, you know, fast forward to what I can't even do the math anymore 20 years later, almost 20 years later, 25 years, whatever, and some of those changes are in this bill. And so I want to commend the department for getting around to those changes. And I you know, I think this...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier as I seem to get different answers from different Ministers on whether this government intends to plow ahead with an allweather road project during a regional study.

So, can the Premier tell us whether it is the intention of this government to submit land use permit and water license applications for the Lockhart AllSeason Road that will undoubtedly trigger an environmental assessment while a regional study is underway. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't really have any notes because I'm totally exhausted. But I just you know, committee at least our side is, we've had lots of discussion and debate about this bill over the last number of months, and we had to kind of carefully consider where we wanted to register objections and concerns with the bill. And so, you know, we thought about this a lot, and I think we saw a part of that even earlier today here where this side of the House didn't really want the bill called, period. Cabinet had to call this bill forward. So, you know, we could have had a vote and tried...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier in this sitting, I tabled a copy of the February 3rd, 2023 letter where the federal minister of northern affairs approved a regional study under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act to look at the future of the area between Yellowknife and the Nunavut border. Unfortunately, the study, as it is currently formulated, will stop at the Nunavut border. However, caribou don't stop there and planning continues for an allweather road that would destroy habitat and disrupt migrations of the Bathurst caribou herd.

A regional study is a good thing, especially...

Thanks, Madam Chair. So just to be really clear, I do support a carbon tax as part of an approach to deal with the climate crisis but I firmly reject Cabinet's inflexible and unfair approach with this bill. And I want to kind of spend a minute a few minutes to kind of recount how we got here because this is not about a madeinthe North solution. This is a made by Cabinet solution. That needs to be really clear.

So, you know, Cabinet went off. They started to talk to the federal government about how to rejig the carbon tax. They didn't even bother to tell us that they were doing that. We had no...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't want to speak too long about this but I think part of the issue here was we were one of the last jurisdictions to negotiate an agreement with the federal government, and when it was signed, I think it was in December of last year, and of course one of the objectives of the federal government was to try to reduce fees for parents, try to institute basically some program of $10 a day child care across the country. And given the timing of the agreement when it was finally signed and the need to get these caps or try to meet the federal objective, it led to I think...