Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I understand the study is probably going to be available in a matter of weeks, so I really look forward to talking to the Minister again about what additional support we can provide for the centre, but in his opening remarks he talked a lot about the new initiatives that the department's doing. One of them was $132,000 for a full-time tourism development officer position for the North Slave Region. Can the Minister just explain a little bit more about what this position is going to do and whether that individual is going to be in a position to offer support to the visitor...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I guess I would suggest to the Minister that he divert the resources that are going into this strategy into economic diversification, as one of my colleagues mentioned a few minutes ago. I have some other questions, though, Mr. Chair. I would like to get back onto your list, if I could. I do appreciate the time with the Minister, and I will have more questions for him. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm just wondering, can the Minister tell us whether there's any core funding or other kinds of funding that are provided through the budget to the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I look forward to the Minister getting back to me on that. Our government has publicly endorsed the declaration, and free, prior, and informed consent is an integral part of that, so we want to make sure that our communities are fully informed and that they have the ability to say no where they desire to do so.

I want to turn now to a couple of other areas, if I can. Given that the Minister himself yesterday said that there is no prospect of any oil and gas development here for another 10 years, is the department still working on this oil and gas strategy and, if so, why...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This is not just about me; this is about accountability. Thank you, Mr. Chair, that's all I have to say.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to go back to this line item under grants, contributions, and transfers. It is the NWT Chamber of Mines. This is just a continuing contribution. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and smells like a duck, this is core funding, essentially. It sort of sticks out to me. I don't see similar contributions, say, to Northern Farm Training Institute for agriculture that would enable them to attend agricultural conferences and do training and so on. Or I will just pick another one, Ecology North, when it comes to renewable energy or climate change. How can the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I look forward to the Minister coming forward to the standing committee with a plan for doing all of that. I do want to move on to one other thing here. Our government has publicly supported the UN Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples. Within there, there are some requirements for free, prior, and informed consent, and I am sure our government supports those, as well. Can the Minister tell me how the Mineral Resources Act is going to incorporate the concept of free, prior, and informed consent? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't seem to be getting anywhere with this, but there are two government people sitting on this board; one from ENR, one from ITI. What sort of direction does the department give to the ITI representative in terms of what the money is to be spent on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So we can't get the feds to the table to talk about this because there is a period, whether there was a prohibition in place or not, so why would we continue to devote resources to this? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess that is part of my worry. If the public consultation is sort of like what happened with the fracking regulations, that was not a very good job. Again, I guess I am going to ask: how can the Minister convince me that he is going to solicit and ensure that all interested stakeholders, including the environmental organizations, conservation interests, Aboriginal governments, are going to be involved in preparing this legislation? Thanks, Mr. Chair.