Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for your patience. I just have a couple of others I want to follow up on, on this one. We have had a couple of years where the budget for negotiations or support for negotiations has been cut in the previous two budgets. It is good to see there is going to be some increased funding here. What assurance can the Minister give us that this is going to help close these deals? We are more than two years past the beginning of our mandate, and there hasn't been one new agreement signed. The joint advisory committee that was set up with the MLAs has met twice. What assurance...

Thanks. I appreciate the clarification from the Premier. The mandate commitment reads as follows: "We will support net metering through clear policy direction to the Public Utilities Board to provide certainty to allow customers to recover their investment in renewable energy." It is listed as an item for the executive to deal with.

When I last looked at the draft energy strategy, there was nothing in there about net metering. Are there going to be some changes, then, to the strategy, such that net metering is going to get some kind of new direction? Is that where we are going? Thanks, Mr...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, if our witnesses want to come back and give us more information and it has to be done confidentially, that is fine, but why is it that we cannot take any action now to increase the financial security for the liabilities that are on the ground right now? Is there some legal provision of the existing lease that is in overhold tenancy that the Minister does not have the discretion to increase the security right now? I cannot believe that someone would sign off on a lease that does not allow the Minister to have discretion to increase security when and if required. It is...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the detailed explanation. I am still not sure about this expenditure. Is there actually a job description that is available for this position? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again. I heard the word "burden" mentioned several times, and that is not what I am interested in creating. I am interested in creating transparency. This government, though, has resisted calls for creation of a lobbyist registry. In the post-devolution NWT, there is a lot more at stake, of course. If we had such a registry, we would know whose interests are being represented and have a better idea why meetings are taking place. Will the Minister take transparency and accountability to the next level and work with Regular MLAs and the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The other site that tends to sometimes keep me awake at night is Prairie Creek, and I probably don't have to tell this Minister, who is the Minister of Lands, he is going to get an Environmental Assessment Report sometime in the near future, probably from the Mackenzie Valley Review Board, about an all-weather road into the site.

The more our fingerprints are on this site, the more likely we are going to assume some of the liability. What, if anything, has our government done about the existing liabilities at the site? If I remember correctly, it is about $9 or $12 million...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that breakdown. $50,000 for travel for one person, that person is going to be spending a lot of time in the air, I guess. Is that money, then, going to be supporting other people to go to Ottawa, or does that come out of other departmental budgets or ministerial budgets? Just what is the travel money for? It just sounds like a lot of money for one person to be flying back and forth between Ottawa and Yellowknife. That may be one trip a week or something. Okay, let's find out what the money is for. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

It is great to get such a positive response from the Minister. I am happy to chat with him when we have a little bit of down time around this. In terms of listing ministerial meetings, there is a column about who the meeting was held with. Sometimes names of individuals are mentioned; other times, an organization only. There seems to be room for improvement and better consistency. Is the Minister prepared to review this aspect of the meeting registry and work with Regular MLAs to improve the registry itself?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, progress is not as quick as I would like it, either, and, I think, as required in our mandate, but I will move on to a couple of more problematic sites. The first one is Cantung. Have we finally been able to get rid of the lease for the surface of the Cantung site? I know I have asked numerous times about this, and every time, it seems to be a little bit closer, but has it actually been transferred back to the federal government? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do not have anything further on this part of the budget. Thank you.