Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just actually flipping back to page 5, where the lands funding forward over the next three years is shown. There does not seem to be much money that they are predicting is required in 20192020 or 20202021, so what is going on? Does this department not have any capital replacement or aspirations or anything? What is going on with Lands? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I understand it might be the subject of negotiations. Is the Minister willing to share that draft proposal with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment on a confidential basis?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. First off I'd like to thank the Minister of Finance and his staff for the work that has gone into the capital budget, but I do have some concerns.

I guess a couple of matters in terms of what's in, or what's perhaps not in, the budget. First off, I couldn't find any discussion about the fiscal responsibility policy in the document, and specifically there is a set of calculations that the department goes through to sort out what the envelope is that's available for capital expenditures, and I didn't see those calculations in here, either. I think this has been raised with the...

Thanks to the Minister for that. Unfortunately, I didn't hear a commitment that they were going to be reviewing the policy even though he says that we still support the declaration. I'm not prepared to review the policy, but maybe I'll try a different slant here.

In my statement earlier today I pointed out the inconsistency between the lofty and courageous principles in the Project Assessment Policy and how a GNWT interdepartmental committee may operate in assembling technical advice and evidence.

I will just give an example here. If government scientific experts produce evidence that...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Lands, who is responsible for the implementation of the Project Assessment Policy. In 2008, this House unanimously endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I see that our government still supports the declaration, but it's not clear what we're actually doing to implement it. Can the Minister tell me and this House whether there was any consultation or engagement with Indigenous governments in developing and refining the Project Assessment Policy, and if not, why not? Masi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Cabinet approved the Project Assessment Policy on April 13, 2017, after a review by standing committee. The policy applies to all GNWT departments, boards, and agencies and establishes the administrative procedure for assessing any "seismic surveys, exploration, extraction and/or production of natural resources, development of infrastructure, or remediation of past resource or infrastructure activity that might have environmental impacts within the Northwest Territories."

Although it was improved as a result of standing committee review, it is still not a good...

No, thanks, Mr. Chair. My time is up. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just to follow up with one question. There has been no CPI increase in this year's money over last year? I want to confirm that because when I look at the money -- yes, we'll start with that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that. I understood that there was going to be an action plan developed to move us towards the new model, and of course that new model does not leave any of the small communities behind; they're going to be protected in that, and that's what the municipal funding review concluded and everybody accepted. When are we going to see that action plan move us towards the new model? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank Madam Scrooge. She is going to bring the plan forward and it will contain the capital needs for 911, that's great. Is the Minister prepared to look at a supplementary appropriation to get this work started in 2018-2019 rather than wait for 2019-2020? Thanks, Mr. Chair