Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'd like to request a recorded vote.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I am going to be very short. I support the motion. I had a chance to see part of the road at the end of April, and I have had constituents raise issues around this with me, and I think it's time that this audit take place at the appropriate time, and I will be supporting the motion. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that Schedule 8 of Bill 6 be amended by adding the following after Section 19:

19.1(1) In this section, "voter" means in relation to a community, a person who is on the list of voters prepared under the Local Authorities Elections Act for the most recent community election;

(2) If that's at least 20 per cent of the voters of a community in which a cannabis store has been in operation for two or more years, petition the Minister to hold a plebiscite. The Minister may order that a plebiscite be held to determine whether the voters of that community wish to establish a...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. On an annual basis, maybe we can get something quarterly or something, but I am sure he is going to take that up.

Our government gets millions of dollars in federal funding for infrastructure projects each year that we administer to maximize Northwest Territories benefits. I don't understand why we can't manage the remediation of the Giant Mine, with appropriate federal oversight, and use our better-equipped toolbox and experience some benefit retention. Have the Minister and his officials considered whether we could take this...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that section 11 of Schedule A to Bill 6 be amended by adding the following after subsection 2:

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a person who has attained 19 years of age but has not attained 25 years of age shall not possess one or more classes of cannabis, the total amount of which, as determined in accordance with Schedule 3 of the Cannabis Act (Canada), is equivalent to more than 10 grams of dried cannabis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the Minister for that. Not just work with CIRNA on getting a letter together, but actually take some action as well, and that is the subject of my next question: what action has the ENR Minister taken to raise these northern benefits concerns with the federal Minister, who has received the same letter, and is he prepared to lead the urgent work of developing a socioeconomic strategy for Giant Mine remediation in partnership with his federal counterpart?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, if I wasn't fooled into thinking this was a smokescreen before, that one sealed it. Look, if the Minister had said in a very clear, unambiguous way in this Chamber that the GNWT is going to open up the system to private sales in six months, I might have been fooled into believing this, but that's not what the Minister said. The Minister said they're going to develop regulations to define what the Minister thinks is the public interest. That's just not going to work here.

This is not a compromise. All this requires is that a regulation be developed within six months. It's...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Giant Mine Oversight Board is responsible for independent oversight of the mine remediation project. That board recently held its second annual public information meeting in Yellowknife, attended by about a hundred people, including me. The meeting follows on the release of the board's second annual report. Earlier in this sitting I tabled a recent board letter to the Prime Minister of Canada on the need for an apology and compensation for the damage done by the Giant Mine. The board has also written an urgent letter to the federal Indigenous and Northern Affairs...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That dinner was a tough act to follow.

I made some remarks when we were discussing the committee report a couple of days ago where I thanked committee and the public, and I don't really want to go over that ground again, but I want to say that I do personally agree with legalization. I wish that we had more time, though, and that much of our efforts, and I think most of the efforts have been very well-intentioned, have been really fraught with poor communications. We have had to deal with a whole set of very complex, difficult issues, and it has been very divisive. I think we...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was going to let it go, too, but now I am not. This corporation was set up in 2005. If this had been identified as a problem a while ago, it should have been fixed a long time ago. The only reason this is before us today is because of Cabinet's fiscal strategy of cutting programs and services to fund infrastructure, and that is a strategy that I have opposed from the beginning, and that is why this is before us here though, is to try to help BDIC out of this hole that has been created by Cabinet's fiscal strategy. Thanks, Mr. Chair.