Kevin O'Reilly

Can the Minister tell us, this magical mystery meeting of ECE staff and the education authority chairs, has this actually been scheduled? What is the date of this meeting?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Great that it has been shared with this House, but can he make this report public? It would obviously have to be disclosed to any potential buyers for the site. What are the actual financial liabilities associated with the environmental issues with the property? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks for the response. Is there actually a plan to sell this property? The folks on this side of the House have not seen anything. Is there a plan? Is there a sale price? What is going on with this property? Can the Minister tell this side of the House what is going on?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to my colleagues. I also want to salute the work of the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, the environmental watchdog on the Ekati Mine that served as a model for what was negotiated for Giant Mine. That agency was established in 1997 and has a stellar reputation for technical oversight and working with communities. Perhaps these two oversight bodies, the Giant Mine Oversight Board and the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, might prove to be examples for what can be done for the remediation of Norman Wells.

We in the North have developed...

I believe I heard the Minister say last week in this House that he was going to personally attend this meeting. Is that the case anymore?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Nailing down this junior kindergarten funding issue is almost as slippery as a dead fish. Congratulations to the Minister; he had a good statement today about full funding. That full funding for junior kindergarten, is it going to include two things, inclusive schooling money for junior kindergarten students and busing costs? Will it include those two things? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. During our review of the departmental budget in Committee of the Whole last year, I asked if we could have some folks go over there to take a look at the site for any potential environmental liabilities. Can the Minister tell this House whether, indeed, there was a visit to the site and what kind of environmental liabilities were found? Can he make that report public because it would have to be disclosed to any potential buyers?

Merci, monsieur le President. It was a difficult call today, but I guess I have to go with some questions on Mactung. These will be questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. When he was down in Vancouver for the Roundup Mining Conference, did he put all of his colleagues to work and have a big sign saying "Mactung for sale" on the GNWT booth down there? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that response. I'm aware that there are a number of other visitors' centres in the Northwest Territories. We've got one at the border. There's one in Inuvik. I believe there's one in Fort McPherson. These operations are basically run as government offices.

There is significant support for these other centres, so can the Minister give me information about what sort of support is provided to these other centres? One of the models that's being considered for the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre is to basically turn it into a government operation...

It's not often that I actually get to congratulate a Minister, but, hey, that's fantastic. What a great leadin to my next question. Can the Minister tell us how his department is consulting on and contributing to the completion of the assessment that I mentioned earlier on the condition of the building? Is the department prepared to move forward on the recommendations that come out of that study really quickly?