Kevin O'Reilly

Sure. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair I did send a set of questions to the Minister on the special warrant, so, if I may, I'd like to proceed with some questions to the Minister and his witnesses. I'm wondering if the Minister can explain how the GNWT ended up owning the Mactung mineral property. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and once again I'd like to thank the Minister for his response. I look forward to working with him on this issue. With new leadership within the francophone community and within the department, I believe we're working hard towards a better working relationship in resolution of a number of these issues, including the expansion of Ecole Allain St-Cyr. Can the Minister of Education commit to regularly reporting progress on the expansion of Ecole Allain St-Cyr at each sitting of this House?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm not really sure I have much else to say. I was trying to get it all within my time frame there. But once again, I do thank the Minister for his responses. I look forward to the information he has committed to provide. I'm glad he has agreed to have an inspector go out and check out the site, Mactung, for liabilities and I look forward to working with the Minister and this particular division to make sure that we have our devolution house in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. But I’m worried about what is going to happen with Prairie Creek as well...

I want to thank the Minister for his response. When Yellowknife MLAs recently met with the commission, the representatives of the commission described the high school program at Ecole Allain St-Cyr as in crisis. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment tell us whether the expansion of the school appears in the capital budget and when construction may actually begin?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess that's my point here, that we don't actually have to wait for the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board to make a determination. We can actually make a submission directly to the board at any time, it doesn't have to be a water license renewal, and try to get the security increased at any point to make sure that we're not exposed in any way. That’s my concern, here, that I think some of this happened under our watch, and I want to try to prevent this from happening again. I’m just curious. What kind of involvement did the financial assurances and liabilities...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Lyda Fuller as executive director of the Yellowknife YWCA, and she's also a constituent in Frame Lake. I want to thank her and her colleagues for the great work that they do. I'd also like to welcome Mr. Elias Abboud, who works for CBC Montreal. I had the pleasure of playing hockey with him when he was in Yellowknife previously, and I look forward to the opportunity to do the same this week.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The reason why I raise this is we had a similar situation for another mine further down the road from Yellowknife called Giant Mine, where the GNWT had a surface lease, for that property and we incurred some liability as a result of that, because there was no financial security required under that surface lease. I’m just wondering, can the Minister then tell me what the outstanding reclamation liabilities are for Cantung, and whether we actually still have any exposure as a result of a surface lease? Thanks.

[Translation] Ecole Allain St-Cyr is located in the Frame Lake riding. It started in 1989, in a portable near J.H. Sissons School, as the first francophone school in the NWT under constitutionally protected language rights. Following a court challenge by francophone parents, a separate school was opened in 1999 that soon included high school. Ecole Allain St-Cyr was expanded in 2008 following another court challenge. A further court challenge has resulted in a decision requiring the GNWT to add a gymnasium and access to the small spaces for specialized activities. This has been a long and...

Could the Minister make available a copy of the contractual arrangement, even if he has to do it in confidence. I would be really curious to see it. Thanks.