Kevin O'Reilly

Again, I would like to thank the Minister for agreeing to improve the registry, but the single most important thing is that there is a lack of any information on the purpose or content of the meetings. Obviously, some elements of confidentiality must be maintained, but simply giving a name under the heading "telephone call" does not provide much information on the nature of our Ministers' activities in this consensus government. Will the Minister work with Regular MLAs to develop criteria for providing more informative listings that describe the general subjects of such meetings to promote...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, it sounds like there is a little bit more to be told about that. If the Minister wants to share some other information with Regular MLAs, or at least the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment, can he give us a more detailed update of what's happening there? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. My colleague from Yellowknife Centre raised some concerns I was going to speak to with regard to this additional staff person in Ottawa, but I have a few other questions on it. $387,000 sounds like a lot of money for one person. Can the Minister just provide some kind of breakdown on how this money is going to be used? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency, and they are with regard to the public engagement and transparency portal website. There is some confusion or inconsistency in terms of how ministerial meetings are classified. While I believe that the registry is a good first step, the deficiencies I outlined in my Member's statement really limit the value of this work. First of all, is the Minister aware of inconsistencies in classifying the type of ministerial meetings, and is he prepared to work with Regular MLAs to make...

Okay. I appreciate the explanation there, thank you. The member of the Lands team mentioned this SAPS system, where we are going to track securities better, and that is a good thing, but I am concerned about the lack of progress on the mandate commitment to make sure that we do not incur any or that we prevent further public liabilities. There has been nothing changed in legislation policy. This department basically signed on to or agreed to continue the old Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Mine Site Recognition Policy. There has been nothing public come out of this unit...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister on this. Is that something, then, that is likely to happen in 2018-2019? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to follow up on my colleague's questions about gas tax reporting, then. I heard the deputy minister say that we are working with communities to improve compliance. What does that actually look like? Are we sending folks to the communities to assist with preparation of reports? I have no idea. What are we doing to improve the reporting so that the money is going to flow better into the future? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I rise pursuant to Rule 21(1) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly to make a personal explanation. Rule 21 allows a Member the opportunity to explain that he or she has been misquoted or deny published accusations against the Member.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in response to an oral question from me, the Premier said, and I quote from unedited Hansard, "The MLA for Frame Lake is on record as stating he wants no mines, no oil and gas, and in his Member's statement, I am not surprised at the line of his questioning."

Mr. Speaker, I have never before or during my time as a Member of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the Minister's comments and the deputy minister's, as well. Before devolution, it was one department. Now it is split between two, and I do not think necessarily that there are any complications, but we might get some more efficiencies if it was brought back under one roof. I appreciate that they are going to look at that. Hopefully, they can come back to the Regular Members and let us know what they found. Is that something the Minister can commit to do? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that from the Minister. In fact, there is other funding later on in the budget for the NWT Friendship Centres. Look, I think that is probably a good investment of money, as well. The Minister talked about maybe developing a policy. It looks like it probably is time to develop a policy to ensure that others know that there may be funding opportunities directly with the Cabinet and that there are going to be criteria around that. Is the Minister committing to developing a policy framework for these sorts of funding requests that are made directly to Cabinet...