Kevin O'Reilly

I would like to thank the Premier for the follow-up on the motion. I would like to know whether there has been a response from the Prime Minister of Canada to that letter and whether that response can be tabled in the House before the end of this sitting, as well.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Presumably, this side of this reserve, now that it is in a deficit position, will be reconciled the same way as it is on the capital or infrastructure side where we wait for year-end, look at O and M spending within all the departments, and determine whether there is a surplus or a deficit. If there is a deficit, it is taken up as small, short-term debt. Is that the way that this would get reconciled? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Today, my Member's statement is going to be about expansion of Ecole Allain St-Cyr, and I'm going to attempt it in French. [English translation starts] today it’s good news in my Member’s Statement. For anyone driving or walking along Taylor Road here in Yellowknife, something new is happening. The long awaited expansion of Ecole Allain St-Cyr is underway and the work space has now been closed in. When completed, this work will finally give francophone students in Yellowknife access to the same facilities enjoyed by other children in our community. This was a...

Okay. Thanks, Mr. Chair. So over a 15-year period. I guess I was hoping for something shorter than that, but the amount that gets charged back to the revolving fund, does it include the interest on the short-term debt or any interest related to the special warrant? Does it get charged back to the revolving fund? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know if I can top that. So, I attended a public meeting on the Giant Mine remediation project last week. This will be the largest-ever project for Yellowknife, at over $1 billion, with up to 250 to 300 jobs for at least 10 years, then jobs in perpetual care. The federal government awarded the main construction management contract to US-based Parsons Corporation, a US company. The $600 million contract will begin as early as 2020 and may run as long as 22 years.

While our community continues to deal with the terrible legacies of the Giant Mine, the remediation...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to table the following document. It's from the Giant Mine Oversight Body. It's a letter dated February 23, 2018, regarding social economic issues, and it's to the Deputy Director, Giant Mine Remediation Project. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for that. I am just worried, though, that, with the $600 million contract already out there, that this is starting to slip away from us. So, later today, I am going to table a letter from the Giant Mine Oversight Board that is quite critical of the current approach on socio-economic benefits by the federal government: there is no overall plan; engagement is encouraged instead of real targets; non-Indigenous Northerners have not been included in the approach to date; no economic impacts are predicted; and so on, but, perhaps most importantly, a collaborative...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have switched this up a little bit. I did give the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources a heads-up. Earlier today I spoke about the poor efforts by the federal government to incorporate specific northern benefits targets into the contracting for the Giant Mine remediation. So I would like to know from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources: what is he prepared to do to ensure that NWT, Ndilo, Detah, and Yellowknife residents and businesses benefit from the more than $1 billion Giant Mine remediation? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to thank the Minister again for that response, but, you know, this remediation project is clearly the beginning of a lot more work that is going to happen here. Clearly, there is an emerging remediation economy that, given the requirements of the devolution agreement and new accounting practice where containment sites are entered into public accounts as liabilities until they are remediated, I am wondering what our government is doing in terms of things like possibly reorienting the Mine Training Society towards remediation. What are we doing in terms...

I would like to thank the Minister for that response. The federal government, though, just does not seem to have any policies or ability to require northern and Indigenous benefits targets in the contracts for the Giant Mine remediation, so can the Minister tell us whether there has been any consideration given to flowing the work and/or funding through GNWT to better incorporate such benefits targets?