Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister responsible for mining. My statement described a recently released study that reviewed the NWT sector and compared it against international standards. The GNWT Commission Study says that we mostly failed or there is room for significant improvements. Can the Minister tell us when this study was completed and why it was released well after any of the public engagement meetings on the Mineral Resources Act? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess the information I had was that it was actually in a deficit position of around $9 million. Perhaps, can Mr. Stewart confirm those figures? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. On October 11, ITI released a study. I consulted Andrew Bauer with the Natural Resource Governance Institute. Mr. Bauer conducted a review of the NWT mineral sector under a contract from GNWT and how we should best manage mining in the interest of good governance.

The study was based on a review publicly available and internal GNWT documents and interviews with some NWT and Aboriginal government representatives and the mining industry. Noticeably absent were non-governmental organizations. Sixteen areas of governance and regulation were evaluated against...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess more of a comment on this and then I have another set of questions. I think there needs to be some effort, then, to communicate to the public why this is not going ahead and that there is not going to be any serious work done on the Frank Channel Bridge for some time perhaps, until new federal funding is secured. In any event, I want to move on to a different line of questioning, if I can. Can anybody tell me what the position is of the supplementary reserve? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So do we have any idea how long this is going to be put off, or do we have any assurance from the federal government that they are prepared to fund a new bridge? How would a new bridge sort of ballpark figure compared to the $8 million it would cost to fix or at least maintain the Frank Channel Bridge? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. What kind of pre-budget consultation was actually held, or did people just sort of walk into the Minister's office? How does this work? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair. Who was consulted then with regard to this change? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have tried to heed your advice that you gave at the beginning of this session and tried to choose my words very carefully. That is why I have written out my statement today. I have two sets of points I wish to make: firstly, regarding what has led us to this point, namely, the Mid-Term Review; secondly, my position on the leadership and performance of Minister Sebert. I need to address the reason why we are here today considering the revocation of a Minister's appointment to Cabinet.

One of the first orders of business for us as new MLAs was to agree on the need...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. Well, we will agree that it is important to get it right, but without having any information out there, how can we have a meaningful and informed debate around this and for the public to meaningfully engage in it?

There is obviously a lot of work that needs to be done to improve our "paltry corporate income taxes" from the mining sector and our world's "most charitable fiscal regime" for the mining sector. Those are quotes from the Bauer study. There are no options, modeling, or analysis on this important issue and any of the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair, you're very generous and I don't have any more questions.