Kevin O'Reilly

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. We all want the students who are in the program to be supported. There is going to be a lot less work to do because we are not taking in a new cohort. Is this really a prelude to cutting the programs completely? I just don't understand why we would make this reinstatement and how it is any different than what the Minister had already committed to do. Can the Minister provide some clarification of what is going to happen with the teachers for the program? There are going to be fewer students for them to be working with because we are not taking them...

Thank you to the Minister for that response. We won't actually see a change in the line items in the main estimates in terms of the contribution to be made to Aurora College. Is that what I am hearing?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the commitment from the Minister on that. We know April 1st is coming up quickly. There is a provision in the agreement for dispute resolution. I am wondering, would the Minister be prepared to recommend that the Giant Mine Oversight Board invoke the dispute resolution process under the environmental agreement if we can't resolve this quickly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I am aware that there is provision in the agreement for the federal government to go to the Treasury Board to resolve this on a permanent basis, but there is a way for them to address the issue right now, and that is just simply to increase the contribution agreement for the next year by the amount that was unspent in the previous year. That would allow for, essentially, a carryover. I guess I would like to know from the Minister what he believes are the next steps that he and his staff will take to get implementation of this key feature of the agreement back on track?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to my colleagues. I wouldn't raise this issue in the House if it were about a few thousand dollars, but this goes to the very heart of why Yellowknifers lost confidence in how government was attempting to remediate the Giant Mine. I trust that our government is working diligently behind the scenes to ensure that the federal government lives up to the promises it made to invest in a permanent solution for Giant Mine. I will have questions later today for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Masi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. As I discussed in my Member's statement, diamond mine environmental agreements are an important part of the network of arrangements that form the social licence for the diamond mines to operate and to maintain public confidence. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Can the Minister summarize the thinking and action that has taken place on amending the diamond mine environmental agreements? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate the commitment from the Minister to do that, and I am hoping it can be done in a timely fashion; probably, I do not know, sometime before June would be great. Do you think he can do that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just to be clear, was that funding actually reallocated or was it deleted from the budget? I understood from last year that these were deletions that were being made in light of the Cabinet's fiscal strategy. Can we get some clarification on that, please? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Good news. I thank the Minister for that. I have no further questions, thanks.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I can see I am not going to get anywhere with this because the Premier does not want to answer the question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is all I have.