Kevin O'Reilly

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. My colleague from Yellowknife North asked some of my questions, although and I look, I am in favour of moving to map staking, but I've got a lot of issues and concerns if the fees aren't raised to appropriate levels and companies are allowed to go in and speculate and tie up a whole bunch of land without actually having to do anything. That's just not a good place to be. But I'd like to know from the Minister how much have we actually spent on this MARS thing so far and what's the total budget for it. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. So I was trying to quickly refresh my memory on the report, and I confess I don't think I was here when it was read into the record. But I assume that this special committee is going to be a joint one between Regular MLAs and Cabinet? But I don't really see that kind of spelled out anywhere in here. Maybe somebody who's on the committee or the chair might be able to help me understand that. I assume, maybe I'm just reading too much into this, but are Regular MLAs going to be part of this or is this just like a Cabinet committee, or what's going on here? Thanks...

Merci, Monsieur le President. And, of course, I didn't give the Minister a heads up so I'm springing this on her, probably playing a little bit of this just off the cuff. But, you know, some of the recommendations in this report are aimed, of course, at one of my favorite agencies, the Canadian RadioTelevision Telecommunications Commission. And, you know, recommendation 2.31, the CRTC should routinely collect and verify data from telecommunication service providers about connectivity quality. Like, I would have thought that that's something you would just normally do.

In any event, Mr. Speaker...

Thanks, Madam Chair. So I guess, again I'll ask, is any of this money going towards Edehzhie and permanent protection? We got some, you know, interim land withdrawal covering it. Is this going to help get this area permanently protected in some way? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Yeah, okay, how do we how do, like, even us as Regular MLAs do we is any of this sort of exposure or potential for risk ever disclosed to us? Like, this comes as a total surprise. I know that the public accounts has this global figure, massive figure of, like I think the last time it was over $200 million or something of potential exposure or litigation or something that and it's grown exponentially over time. But how does this sort of exposure or potential liability ever get conveyed to even us as Regular MLAs? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 88319(2), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 20232024, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 88319(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course I'm not talking about the P3 policy; I'm talking about the fiscal responsibility policy where debt servicing should come into play, whether it's P3 debt as well, and it should include that. And although the Minister doesn't think there's active concern, I've been raising this in the House for seven years. So I'm very concerned that the Minister and the department appear to be ready to make changes to this policy without bothering to engage the public, and the Minister herself spoke about how they engaged the credit...

Thanks, Madam Chair. So what's the Deh Cho money actually going to be used for? Thanks, Madam Chair. And will it actually result in the Horn Plateau area being permanently protected? I guess that's my underlying question. Thanks.

Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. So I'm just yeah, so this was done as a P3, and was there any other way for us to I guess we could have contracted this rather than do it as a P3 or something and, you know, why did the and I know I'm putting the Minister in a difficult position because she wasn't even here when these decisions were made. But would this have been any cheaper if this had been done just as a regular procurement? You know, we contract somebody to do it rather than as a P3; like it's more than double the original cost. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Yeah, I guess I lost my mind, but okay, is any of this offset by federal money, and how much? Thanks, Madam Chair.