Kevin O'Reilly

Frame Lake

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 1)

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Committee Report 1-18(3): Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures, Report on the Review of the Chief Electoral Officer's Report on the Administration of the 2015 Territorial General Election, Supplementary Recommendations, and the White Paper on the Independence and Accountability, be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 1)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the Chief Electoral Officer's Report on the Administration of the 2015 Territorial General Election, Supplementary Recommendations, and the White Paper on the Independence and Accountability of Election Administration in the Northwest Territories.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the Northwest Territories issued three reports, tabled by the Speaker on May 31, 2016, February 28, 2017, and June 1, 2017. These reports contain 107 recommendations for changes related...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 1)

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. It is clear he did his homework and I gave him a heads up, so I appreciate the detailed response. As part of our mandate, we agreed to "develop an integrated comprehensive approach to the management of contaminated sites including prioritizing, sharing of responsibility in collaboration with other governments, monitoring, and a sound financial security system to prevent public liabilities."

This item was not changed during the recent revisions. What lessons have we learned from the Mactung and Cantung messes and how will this government apply them to...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 1)

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Lands, who has some responsibility for mining financial security. There are some positions shown on the organizational charts for the Securities and Project Assessment Division of the Department of Lands. Can the Minister give us a brief overview of the work under way within this division to develop a new closure and reclamation regime for mining in the Northwest Territories, including financial securities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Earlier in general comments, I neglected to say that I actually support most of the changes that are going to come forward. This is one, though, that I think the public deserves to know more about. This is a fundamental change in the document, in the mandate, that was tailored by Cabinet about what we are going to do about child care. The original mandate document reads "implementing universal and affordable child care." The version that has been tabled by Cabinet reads "making child care available and affordable." The words "universal" have been taken out. All along, I have...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I will keep this very short. This is one of the changes that I do support, and I am well on record in this House as supporting post-secondary education here in the Northwest Territories and how we do not have a university. There are no universities north of 60 degrees, no universities in northern Canada, and I have talked about how a community like Akureyri in Iceland, 19,000 people, has a university, and there are Canadian students there studying circumpolar matters because they cannot do it in Canada. I am well on record supporting the development of a knowledge economy...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Once again, I would like to thank the Premier for that information. I really do appreciate getting this information from the Premier, and I know he is just fresh off the plane. Again, I sincerely thank him for this. I know that other Ministers also go to federal-provincial-territorial meetings. I am just wondering, this sort of reporting back would be really helpful, at least for myself and probably other Members on this side of the House. Can the Premier find a way to more systematically get back to Regular Members about what happens at federal-provincial-territorial meetings like the First...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

I want to thank the Premier for that list of what he did in Ottawa. It was very thorough and I appreciate that very much. I guess I’m most interested in the First Ministers' conference. Can the Premier tell us as he did mention that cannabis was on the list of topics discussed. I’m wondering if carbon pricing was also discussed. Can he tell us what sort of positions were put forward and whether there was any resolution of these issues at the First Ministers’ conference.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Merci, Monsieur le President. Tomorrow, we will conduct the mid-term review of Ministerial and Cabinet performance. In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, I want my constitutents and colleagues across the floor to know how I have gone about beginning to assess Ministerial performance. In preparation for the performance evaluation, I reviewed the leadership speeches made by each of the candidates who eventually became Ministers. I also reviewed the mandate letters assigned to each Minister, priority tasks for their portfolios. I have also used the performance criteria suggested by...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just would like to get some clarity on this. It is 250 households per year for the next three years. That sort of gets over into the next Assembly, which is fine by me, but does anybody want to clarify that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.