Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response. I'm just wondering: what kind of assurance can the Minister give me that this drafting of this bill or this act is going to be done in a way that includes all interested stakeholders? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, the money may come from industry; this is not their money. This is money that's to be used for environmental studies, and if there's no plan for actually spending this money or priorities, so we just throw it open to requests for proposals. That to me doesn't sound like a very wise investment of the money. Is there not a set of research priorities or needs that have been identified so that the funds can be used in the wisest way possible, whether it's to understand the effects of oil and gas exploration on woodland caribou or offshore or whatever? What is the plan to...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Was there any consideration given to cutting this funding to help meet our government's fiscal strategy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, monsieur le President. Glad to hear the Minister say that we're going to start being a little bit tougher with our negotiations so that we can retain more of the benefits here for Northerners.

One way to perhaps help that: can the Minister commit to having a thorough and independent review of our socio-economic agreements conducted so we can learn from others and our own mistakes, and will he agree to make such a review public? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay, I'll try to go at this a different way. Is there a plan or a strategy for the use of these funds? Have research priorities been identified? I'm just wondering why we're not spending more of the money in a given year, why we're surplussing money. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The entire program is sunsetting at the end of this year? Is that what the Minister said? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to my colleagues. Cabinet seems to be able to find money for its priorities, but when we will get serious about our social infrastructure deficit? Later today I'll have questions for the Minister of Health. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Since the previous speaker opened the door to consideration of policy matters under corporate management, can I ask the Minister: is this where funding is found for drafting of the work that's going to get under way soon for a Mineral Resources Act, or is it found further on into the departmental budget? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will direct that to the director of finance as well.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister, but I'm just not sure how he can commit to bringing forward legislation while he's cutting the budget for it. I will just leave it at that for that one.

I have a further question under the expenditure category. I see where contract services is once again, last year, not all of the money was spent, and this year, there's a reduction in that. Can the Minister or his staff explain what's going on with the money allocated for contract services? Now, I presume that some of this might be used to help bring forward some of the legislation...