Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks to the Minister for that response. He confirms what I said in my statement, where there are a couple of different studies going on. I'm just wondering if the Minister can tell us, though, is there any funding in the 201718 capital or O and M budget with regard to additional assistance for the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I apologize, I didn't give him much of a head's up, but he heard my Member's statement, so it's about the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre. I know he's been in there, he's seen the condition of the building. Based on the statistics that I mentioned earlier, would the Minister agree that the Northern Frontiers Visitors Centre is an indispensable facility for capital city tourism? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi to my colleagues.

Does the entire Visitors Centre -- is it unsalvageable and is a new facility required? A parallel study is also under way to evaluate and quantify the importance of the centre for Yellowknife tourism, economy, and scoping possible sources of funding for either renovation or replacement.

With numbers like the ones I've cited today, it's hard to imagine how any study could fail to establish that the centre is an essential piece of Yellowknife tourism infrastructure. I'm raising these accomplishments today to salute the contribution of the centre and its...

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?

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Look, I recognize there's a lot of work that's being done on this issue by a number of departments, but if we haven't even actually started to contact the federal government  earlier today at noon we heard that it was the position of our government that there was some federal responsibility here, so what is going on? Is there some federal liability for these lands or not? If there is, can the Minister share with this side of the House, in a legal opinion or whatever, what basis do they believe that there is some federal responsibility?

Merci, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, over the noon hour, we had the pleasure to hear from the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about the purchase of the NTCL assets in Hay River and elsewhere on the Mackenzie River system. There were lots of issues raised about environmental liabilities, and I'm just wondering if the Minister of Lands could give us a few highlights of what the department is doing with regard to these environmental liabilities with the NTCL assets that we've now acquired? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

So let's talk about imposing things. I was at the consultation session here in Yellowknife. A carbon tax wasn't even mentioned there, so I'm not sure who the Premier is consulting because he's certainly not consulting with this side of the House or the residents of the Northwest Territories on a carbon tax.

I guess I'd like to know whether the Premier has actually asked the federal government to ensure that any carbon tax revenues collected here will not adversely impact our territory formula funding, and what was the response from the federal government?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier on a carbon pricing scheme for the Northwest Territories. Can the Premier explain his change in position from opposing carbon pricing made in June 2016 to when he signed the Northwest Territories onto the PanCanadian Framework on Climate Change in December 2016? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the response from the Minister. Perhaps while he's looking through those documents, he might think about the devolution agreement, as well. Can the Minister tell the House whether the devolution agreement and the provisions in there pertain to these lands. Would they cover these lands? Because, I guess, through the agreement, we have the ability to go back to the federal government and work out some remediation details. Does the devolution agreement cover any of the NTCL lands? If the Minister can't answer us now, can he get back to us and let us know...