Kevin O'Reilly

I appreciate the Minister's response and his work with his earpiece as well, but the benefits of participant funding are well documented and they include building confidence in our environmental management system and creating buy-in for our residents while considering projects. I'm wondering if the Minister can just provide a little bit more information about what specifically the GNWT is prepared to do to push this issue with the federal government. I understand he mentioned letters that have been sent in the past, but is this something he'd be prepared to take up with the new Minister of...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that the Department of Lands now coordinates GNWT participation in environmental assessment. Since the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act came into force in 1998, participant funding has been made available for exactly three of the more than 70 environment assessments or impact reviews that have taken place. Can the Minister of Lands tell this House who is responsible for participant funding for environment assessments in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to promote and praise our integrated environmental management system in the Northwest Territories. This system is the result of hard-fought, constitutionally protected land rights agreements negotiated by Aboriginal governments. Some parts of the Northwest Territories now have legally binding land use plans, environmental assessments, land and water management, cumulative impact monitoring, and environmental audit functions in place. These components work together to protect our land and water, ensure we benefit from resource development, and allow people to...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, again my questions are for the Minister of Lands.

Regarding the Prairie Creek Mine site and its ultimate environmental remediation and abandonment, what would it cost to remediate the entire site to current standards, and:

Is there an approved plan to carry out this work?

What is the current amount and form of financial security held under various instruments for the Prairie Creek Mine site?

Does Canadian Zinc have the financial capacity to conduct a full remediation on the basis of its current worth?

What is the plan to close any shortfall between the currently held financial...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to getting the information from the Minister. The last question I have on this is this. I did attend a public consultation session on the Thaidene Nene last year. I was a bit alarmed to hear the Minister of the day of Environment and Natural Resources say that the primary objective of the territorial government was to limit the federal footprint in the Northwest Territories with regard to Thaidene Nene. I don't think that's a good idea. The feds actually can bring money to the table, and actually have a lot of experience with co-managing parks. I just...

I want to thank the Minister for the response. I think one of the key pieces that's missing to get this going a little more quickly is a review of the Territorial Parks Act. This is an ancient piece of legislation that dates from the 1970s that helped us set up roadside campgrounds, and it really needs to be updated to provide for much bigger protected areas, landscape-level sort of protection. Is the Minister prepared to review and amend the Territorial Parks Act?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the response from the Minister. I'd be happy to work with him on this issue. I've got a little bit of experience in this area and would be happy to share that with him, though Canadians south of 60 degrees are entitled to participant funding through federal environmental assessment legislation. Here in the Northwest Territories there's the Interim Resource Management Assistance Program, or IRMA, to build capacity in Aboriginal governments outside the areas covered by land rights agreements. This is a very helpful initiative, but can the Minister tell us...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and I'm glad I'm not a pencil today.

---Laughter

The current federal government has realized the mistakes associated with excluding Canadians from pipeline project assessments and has announced changes in the way that citizens can be involved in such decisions in the future. Can the Minister of Lands tell this House what he is prepared to do to ensure NWT residents have access to the resources necessary to meaningfully participant in environmental assessments?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now that is starting to make some sense for me. Finally, to close it off then, we are not looking at any substantive change between what we spent in 2015-2016 in the first quarter for income assistance and student financial assistance as opposed to what is being proposed in 2016-2017. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I’m not sure I am getting my question across the best way I can then, perhaps. For income assistance, student financial assistance, what are the proportions of the total spending that we are looking at in the first quarter? Thank you, Mr. Chair.