Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. It's been a busy week, and I forgot earlier to mention that there's a Page from my constituency serving in the Assembly, so I would like to recognize and thank Sarah Cassaway for her work and for all the work of the Pages during this very busy budget session. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. That's welcome news from the Minister. I look forward to the strategy. Lastly, in my Member's statement, I spoke about lessons learned from the Mackenzie Gas Project about putting all of our eggs in a non-renewable resource mega-project basket. We learned about trying to cut corners on project assessment; that eventually sort of comes back to bite you. Perhaps the biggest lesson is the need to move past oil and gas to diversify our economy. I would like to know from the Minister: what lessons has he learned from the demise of the Mackenzie Gas Project?

I'd like to thank the Minister for his response on the last question. One of the mandate commitments that Cabinet pushed was to develop a long-term strategy to attract investment in oil and gas. The mandate tracking webpage shows that this item was completed in late 2016, but it still hasn't seen the light of day. Companies are voting with their feet and wallets and leaving. Where is the long-term strategy, and why would we continue to try to attract investment when industry has no interest?

Merci, Monsieur le President. On December 22nd of last year the Mackenzie Gas Project partners announced their decision not to proceed with the development. Not only is there no interest in offshore hydrocarbon, onshore interest has evaporated. As the Premier predicted, there is no interest in NWT oil and gas, and it will not come back for a long time, if ever.

Some government leaders are blaming the review processes for the demise of the project. Nothing could be further from the truth. Had the project gone ahead, it would now be a multi-billion-dollar white elephant.

This project never had any...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to continue the conversation that I had yesterday with the Minister of Lands on mine site reclamation. Yesterday he said that he was sure that GNWT had not given any kind of a release or indemnity to TerraX with regard to work that they may want to carry out at the Ptarmigan Mine site, so I am wondering if the Minister would be willing to check with his federal counterparts about whether the federal government had issued any kind of indemnity or release to TerraX with regard to their work on the Ptarmigan Mine site? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for letting us know that this oil and gas strategy is supposed to be made available in April. Clearly, there's no interest in exploration in the offshore. Now, onshore oil and gas. As shown by the demise of the Mackenzie Gas Project and the decision by Husky to not frack any further in the Sahtu, the Premier predicted the end of oil and gas, and even Matthews Energy Consulting says we need to shift our oil and gas focus from exploration to remediation. Will the Minister start to refocus our efforts on oil and gas to remediation and small-scale development that could...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, who also has responsibility for oil and gas. We spoke of the developer's decision to not proceed with the Mackenzie Gas Project in December 2017. GNWT ended its financial contributions to the Aboriginal Pipeline Group in 2017-2018. I would like to know from the Minister: what, if any, support does our government continue to provide for the Aboriginal Pipeline Group now, and are new contributions or support being planned? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are not on the procurement zombie. They are for the Minister of Lands. Earlier today, I spoke about the recent acquisition of the mineral rights for the abandoned Ptarmigan Mine and the problems this may cause for remediation of this site and perhaps other contaminated sites. Can the Minister of Lands tell us the current status of remediation at the Ptarmigan Mine? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. I can tell him, though, that the mineral rights had been withdrawn underneath Giant Mine, so I don't know why we don't ensure that mineral rights are withdrawn for sites that are being remediated or under consideration for remediation. I want to move on.

TerraX indicates in its news release that it has no responsibility for environmental contamination or remediation of the Ptarmigan Mine site. Can the Minister tell us whether TerraX was given any kind of an indemnity or release by GNWT or Canada in acquiring these mineral...

Thanks to the Minister for that information. Can he tell us, then: have there been any cost estimates prepared for the reclamation/remediation work at Ptarmigan Mine? How much is it going to cost the taxpayers to remediate this site?