Kevin O'Reilly

It's clear that carbon pricing is an indispensable element of any strategy to reduce carbon emissions and that the federal government could still impose carbon pricing if agreement can't be reached. The closing accord promised that measures could be adapted to the realities or should be adapted “to the realities of Canada's Indigenous peoples in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions,” end of quote. Is the Premier prepared to move on achieving a sensible and sensitive carbon pricing regime for the Northwest Territories?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that information. My other questions are I believe somewhere in this list of contributions there may be money for Dechinta and College nordique. Can the Minister confirm that? Can the Minister also tell us whether there has been any changes in the funding these two organizations received last year as compared to them this year? Thanks Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The previous speakers stole most of my thunder, but I think there might have been a couple of names that he did miss. I believe Dr. Erin Freeland Ballantyne's in the audience. She's the dean of unbiased activities, research and innovation, Dechinta Bush University. I believe Barbara Ann Blancho of Colville Lake is also in the gallery. Greetings to all the folks here from Dechinta, especially the grads on your important achievement. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do want to thank our witnesses. I was hoping to hear that. That's something I will be watching for closely, and there might even be some folks in the gallery that are watching or will be listening as well. But I appreciate the efforts of the Minister and I look forward to working with him on those pieces of legislation. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The past six months have brought international and federal/ provincial/territorial developments in the fight against climate change. After almost a decade of inaction, our federal government is finally taking its first steps on climate change. In our federation, participation and cooperation of provinces and territories is also required. At the December COP, climate change conference in Paris, our federal government made ambitious commitments for renewed action on climate change. GNWT representatives at COP21 met with the Nunavut and Yukon delegations to discuss a pan...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Like I said earlier, it's not always clear to me where we are supposed to ask questions, given the way that the mains have been put together, but I see that there is a policy legislation and communications line item here for corporate management. Can our witnesses explain what sort of legislative initiatives the department is looking at bringing forward in the next year or two? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the questions just asked by my colleague made the case for some information I'd asked for earlier in the week. I'd asked our Minister of Finance if we could get a table that shows the changes that are going to happen throughout the budget. If we can get that table that sort of shows where those reductions are the result of actual program reductions versus sunsetting and whether those jobs are filled or not for each of the communities and regions in the Northwest Territories, that would be really helpful in understanding this.

I could probably start to put together a table, something...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Was there any consultation with the NWT council for disabilities in this sort of change in the amount that we would expend under this agreement? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the answer from the Minister and I look forward to trying to work with him on that too. I think that there is some receptiveness on the federal side. I've been around for a while, I know that most of the money, in fact 80 per cent of the money, for the initial school here in Yellowknife, for the francophone school, actually came from the federal government. I think it would be great to continue to pursue them and I'd like to work with the Minister on that. I want to move down to the cooperation agreement for labour market agreement for persons with...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate the level of detail that's been provided, and I do understand that we're going to get regular updates in terms of what happens with the employees as time goes along, so I do appreciate the efforts of the other side to track that important information for us and to give it back to us. Thanks, Mr. Chair.