Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Mayor Mark Heyck, from the City of Yellowknife, and Sara Brown. She's the executive director with the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, and I believe she's still a constituent, but I know that there's a larger delegation here, as well, on behalf of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities. I want to welcome them to the Chamber today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to table this document entitled "100 per cent Renewable Energy in the Northwest Territories by 2050" by Alternatives North dated October 2016. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to reassure the Premier, though, that this is not the first time these changes have been requested. Some of them date back to when I was on city council in 2007. So I'm pleased to hear that we're going to have some more research done; research is great, but I'm looking for action. Changes have been requested to the Property Assessment and Taxation Act. Is that something that's going to happen within the lifetime of this Assembly?

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table two documents. The first one is a Letter from the City of Yellowknife to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs regarding a Municipal request for legislative changes. The second document, Mr. Speaker, is called "The Northern Way Hybrid Micro-grids Improving Energy Security Through a Northern Alternative to Carbon Pricing.” Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I'm sorry.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures will:

Consider the potential for existing or emerging technologies to enhance public access to information and public interaction.

Do further consultation with individual members of the Legislative Assembly, Chairs of standing committees, GNWT officials, and members of the public and organizations; to elicit input on how to enhance transparency and public engagement in the work done by the Standing Committees.

The committee recognizes that further work should be done to examine a number of issues including:

What does “public” really...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'd encourage the department to talk to the diamond mines about their dust suppression activities. I think it is important that we use this opportunity in Committee of the Whole to ask these sort of questions in spite of some resistance perhaps from the other side. But we're here to talk about these capital expenditures and I'll use that opportunity. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Great. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that and I think the city does do good public consultation work, so in collaboration with you folks, you know, I have a lot of confidence that there'll be an opportunity then for the folks in Niven Lake in particular to express their ideas about the design and that, so thank you very much. I appreciate that commitment.

I just want to move on if I can, Mr. Chair, to a different matter. I noticed on page 3 that there's this site runway stabilization using EK35 which is a dust suppressant, so it just made me wonder what sort of dust suppressants do we use on...