Kevin O'Reilly

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...

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...

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.

I look forward to that process of building confidence and trust as we move forward, but one of the biggest obstacles to ensure public confidence in our resource development decisions and to ensure timely and informed decisions is a lack of any participant or intervener funding programs. Canadians south of 60 degrees north have a right to participant funding in federal environmental assessments while we do not. Why is participant funding not part of the REDI campaign?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry who is leading the Resource and Energy Development and Information campaign or REDI. Can the Minister explain how REDI is supposed to build public confidence in our ability to develop resources in a responsible way? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. All this motion really does is delete the part of the bill that would have had the authority rest with the Minister to make exemptions. We have now changed that already; so this is just a consequential amendment. I do not think I need to say anything further. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to address one item that the Minister raised, and that was about emergency situations. The amendment would preserve the ability for the Minister to make exemptions in emergency situations, and I think that is a good thing. It is still in this amendment, but where an exemption is not based on an emergency situation, the issue is where that authority should rest. Should it rest with the Minister or Cabinet as a whole? I still believe that it should rest with Cabinet as a whole. It is a collective decision and make sure that all the Ministers are involved in that...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 27 be amended by adding the following after clause 3:

3.1. The following is added after section 2.01:

The Commissioner in Executive Council may, in accordance with the regulations, exempt any person or class of persons, equipment or contaminant from all or any provision of this act or the regulations.

If the Commissioner in Executive Council intends to exempt any person or class of persons, equipment or contaminant from all or any provision of this Act or the regulations, the Commissioner in Executive Council shall

(a)

make notice of the proposed exemption...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. We have had quite a bit of discussion around this; so I will try to keep it brief. I think that everybody would agree that we have a common and shared interest in protecting the environment and making sure that we get this very first piece of postdevolution environmental legislation right and that it should really reflect best practises.

I think it is fair to say that the one remaining area where concerns have been expressed is around ministerial authority to grant exemptions from any or all provisions of the act and its regulations. During the public review process of...

I am glad he has done the heavy lifting and he has got his briefing binder on his desk now. I had asked about the scope of the review, and I believe he committed to some public engagements around that. Maybe I could get the Minister to commit to provide more information to this side of the House, and perhaps even to the public about what the scope of this review is going to entail?