Kevin O'Reilly

Masi, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome Mr. John Kidder to the gallery. I had the pleasure of dining with him last night. He lives in Ashcroft, British Columbia, and he spent the first four and a half years of his life in Yellowknife so he's visiting our community and getting refreshed. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you colleagues for the hard work that has been done to present the mid-term review process in our report. The path is never an easy one when you're breaking trail. Every option the committee considered was looked at through the lenses of transparency, accountability and fairness. In more than a dozen official meetings and countless informal discussions, all Members were focused on living up to the directions set out in the referral motion passed by us all in this House. The committee was also very much aware of the promises that we, as Members of the 18th Assembly...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Review of the Establishment of a Mid-Term Review Process.

One of the first actions by Members of the 18th Assembly was to task the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures with recommending a process for a public mid-term accountability review. Motion 7-18(1), entitled "Establishment of a Mid-Term Review Process" and carried on December 17, 2015, states as follows:

WHEREAS the Members of the 18th Legislative Assembly have resolved to work together to set priorities and to develop a mandate to guide this...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. It answers, I guess, the future procurement question, but I still don't have an explanation of how we got here. Was this originally put out to tender or was this just something we bought off the shelf or what? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This is the first capital budget for a number of us. There will probably be a little bit of learning as we go through it. I had three issues that I wanted to raise in my opening remarks if I can.

The first issue is with regard to the proposed Department of Infrastructure. At least the way that the capital estimates have been laid out, there is this department of infrastructure, which is the proposed amalgamation of Public Works and Services and the Department of Transportation.

I will confess, Mr. Chair, as I was reading this on the weekend, it was probably too late, but I...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am pleased to work with the Minister to make sure that we can protect the integrity of our co-management systems, but some would say the GNWT has shown its cards by siding with the mining company rather than the protection of the environment and thrown the integrity of the evidencebased co-management system into doubt. We'll also have to convince Ottawa that we are capable of managing our own resources if we hope to get any further jurisdiction or powers under the devolution agreement and process. Mr. Speaker, how does the Minister intend to rebuild public confidence...

That's an interesting example. I thank the Minister for it. That water legislation has basically been in place since 1970, early 1970, so this is a very rare occurrence, indeed. I don't understand why the Minister did not write to the company after the first letter and say no further representations could be considered after the public hearing by the board. Some may view this as a breach of procedural fairness. Why did the Minister not tell the company that the proper avenue for questioning procedural fairness was to seek judicial review? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to my colleagues. This is why NWT residents fought hard for land rights, co-management, and devolution. We have much higher expectations for our political leadership and will need to work very hard to restore public confidence. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Mr. Speaker. I have three documents I would like to table. The first one is the "Government of the Northwest Territories Ministerial Directive on Enrolment of Students in French First Language Education Programs (2016)." The second one, Mr. Speaker, is from the Yukon government. It's the French as a first language instruction regulation. Mr. Speaker, the third document I'd like to table is the "Yukon Government Admission to French First Language Schools Policy." Merci, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad to hear the Minister is prepared to clear up this confusion, but can the Minister tell this House and the public whether there are any specific measures or policies in place to prevent this kind of approach of accepting submissions from water licence applicants after public hearings?