Kevin O'Reilly

Frame Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 9)

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier, and they are with regard to the PanTerritorial Vision on Sustainable Development and the Arctic Policy Framework. I don't recall there being any public consultations on the panterritorial vision. Can the Premier confirm that for me? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 9)

Thanks again to the Minister for that. Unfortunately, the "what we heard" report doesn't even invite any further comments or public engagement. Glad to hear it is happening, though. It might just be advertised a little bit better. In the House yesterday, the Minister said that a review on mining revenues would not likely take place during this Assembly. It is my view ITI cannot be left in charge of this review due to its conflict of interest as mining promoter and the obvious regulatory capture that has taken place. Many other jurisdictions like Alberta have conducted independent reviews of...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 9)

Merci, Monsieur le President. The report on the Mineral Resources Act public engagement exercise is a "what we believe" document from ITI, rather than "what was said." Can the Minister explain why he promised that there would be more information made available from ITI's "crossjurisdictional reviews and expensive policy research," in this report, yet there's nothing on that subject in the document? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 9)

Merci, Monsieur le President. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and I am starting to get that feeling. I love mining, as long as it is properly managed and we get our fair share. Unfortunately, that is not what we got yesterday from the Minister of mining when he tabled the "what we heard" report on the Mineral Resources Act. Rather than a good summary of what was submitted, it is a classic example of regulatory capture. Regulatory capture happens when a government agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial concerns or interests of the industry or sector it is...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm going to raise a number of the same concerns that my colleague from Yellowknife Centre has already expressed. We did have a good briefing at noon today from the Minister of Education and his colleague the Minister of Health and Social Services on the youth mental health support investments. It will require transitioning some of the money that's now given to the district education authorities to support that work, and there is additional money that's coming in, and I think that's all a good effort, but there is still a number of outstanding issues with regard to...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thanks to the Minister for that. I can help him with his memory there. It is $13.46 million. It is found on page B14 of the budget address, and I am sure he is going to have the main estimates in front of him shortly. Tobacco taxes are $16 million. In the interest of transparency, can the Minister tell us who actually calculates and predicts these royalties?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks again to the Minister for that, but we do not have a firm schedule from the Minister. He has admitted there is a lot of work that has to be done. We do not even have the results from the discussion paper consultations. He has to work with committee. He says he is going to talk to the public. Can the Minister commit to table a schedule of these sort of consultations leading up to the March 30th deadline in this House as soon as possible? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Apologies for not offering the question properly. I appreciate the response from the Minister. He did not really address the issue, though, of carbon pricing as an essential tool. Earlier today I tried to jog the memory of our Cabinet colleagues on the issue of carbon pricing. The public commentary for the discussion paper and survey closed on September 15th of last year. Can the Minister of Finance tell us if and when a "what we heard" report is going to be released and whether the written submissions received will also be released?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'd like to start with something really simple: can the Minister of Finance tell the public whether our government actually believes in climate change and that carbon pricing is an essential tool to address this threat? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I would like to start off on the issue of the land rights negotiations. The Minister indicated that there is an additional $595,000 in this year's budget for it. That is likely a good thing, but this comes after two years of cuts within the department and its capacity to negotiate. It is good that we are trying to work towards that. I guess I'll have some questions about what that funding is really going to be used for.

The other thing I want to say about this is that there is a joint committee of Cabinet and Regular MLAs to talk about some of these issues, but it has never...