Kevin O'Reilly

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for his response. That's exactly what I'm getting at, rather than put himself in the position of trying to deal with procedural fairness, get the courts to do it. That's where the applicants should go.

Earlier today, I spoke of how land and water boards are required to deal with compensation claims; compliance with water standards, although we don't have any after 45 years; and financial responsibility of applicants.

I thank the Minister for that response; I'm not sure it really deals with the issue. When would the Minister refer matters of procedural fairness to the courts or take it upon himself to make a determination?

Merci, Monsieur le President. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources now has the authority to sign off water licences following devolution. When I raised issues around how this new authority is being exercised, the Minister tabled a response in this House on October 27th. The Minister said "when rendering a decision on a water licence, it is the responsibility of the Minister to ensure the quasi-judicial process administered by the board has been conducted in a fair and transparent manner. To this end, procedural fairness is a primary consideration."

This raises a number of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I support this motion. Some of the reasons are outlined in the report itself, but our inventory of contaminated sites continues to grow. In 2014, it was 129. Last year, at March 31st, it was 216 contaminated sites. The liability associated with those sites continues to grow as well. In 2014, it was 32.1 million. Now, it is 68.9 as of March 31, 2015.

These are the reasons why I continue to raise these issues around contaminated sites and the need for us to have a proper system in place to prevent public liabilities and for financial security. I will keep raising these. We need...

My questions are for the Minister of Lands. Section 3.1 of the Commissioner's Land Act establishes the requirement for the posting of security on the factors for determining security amount, for restoration of lands, and for refund of security. Please provide a listing of the commercial and industrial leases on Commissioner’s land issued since February 15, 2011 including the lease number, general location, issue date, amount and form of security required, and:

Whether an exemption was granted under any leases from the requirement to provide security, including the reasons why the exemption was...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have three written questions. First one.

My questions are for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Regarding the co-management boards governing the Mackenzie Valley and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, what progress has the Government of the Northwest Territories made on ensuring that all vacancies on the co-management boards are filled; and could the Minister provide background information on the current state of vacancies, including:

the current number of vacant positions on each of these boards;

how long each of these currently vacant...

Again, thanks to the Minister for his response. Does the Minister recognize that questions of law about a water licence issued by a board, including procedural fairness, are best dealt with through the appeal processes set out in the Waters Act; that is, an appeal to the court rather than trying to have the Minister sort out these matters?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier in relation to our mandate commitments to empower local governments. Earlier today I raised the City of Yellowknife letter that requested a number of territorial government acts be changed. The city has been after our government here for almost a decade to make changes to these pieces of legislation. How will our government respond to the city's request for changes to territorial legislation on making what amounts to housekeeping changes that the city urgently requires to better meet the needs of its citizens? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I served on Yellowknife City Council for nine years and understand the importance of that order of government to our communities and the need for them to have broad powers to manage their own affairs. As in other parts of this country, our local governments are creatures of GNWT, established under territorial laws. We have a duty to ensure local governments have the authority to meet the needs of their citizens.

Usually, this works pretty well, so long as the government responsible for the enabling laws meets its responsibility to keep the substance and detail of...

Merci, Mr. Speaker. First off, I want to thank the mover, the Member for Deh Cho, and the seconder, the Member for Yellowknife Centre, for bringing forward this important public policy matter before the House and before the public. Really, it's about the future of men's healing programs in the Northwest Territories. That's what this is really about.

I recognize that the A New Day program was a pilot, but it's a pilot project that actually works. I think we will all welcome the evaluation report as it's likely to improve whatever the programming is and this program in particular, so that's...