Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. So okay, I got an explanation as to why the Minister and Cabinet believe that this shouldn't apply to GNWT. Why does it apply, then, to municipal governments? Thank you.

Yeah, okay. Thanks for that. I guess I'll we're going to get to a debate about something a little later here, but.

So I just want to turn to the there's a process convention on communications between Cabinet Ministers, standing committees, and Regular Members, and section 3 is consultations with standing committees. I'm just going to paraphrase something in here.

You know, from time to time Cabinet may wish to see considered input from a standing committee on a proposed government initiative plan, activity, or discussion paper. In these instances, Cabinet may provide a committee with...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It might be helpful to actually amend the document to cite the Environmental Protection Act. But I also wonder whether this guideline will apply to privatelyowned lands or a contaminated site might be located even if the contamination has not escaped the site. So can the Minister tell us whether this guideline will apply to privatelyowned lands and how? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Well, my apologies to the Minister. My recollection was that that was said during the clausebyclause review and if my recollection is wrong, I sincerely apologize. But I guess I'd like to know, first off, just confirm with the Minister, will this bill apply to GNWT? Will it apply to Indigenous governments? Will it apply to municipal governments? What's the application of this bill. Thanks, Madam Chair.

I don't want the clock to be run out. I want to know how specifically the open government policy was used in drafting this bill. I don't want to hear about the roles of Cabinet. I don't want to hear about roles of Regular MLAs. I want to know how the open government policy was implemented in the drafting of this bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have been waiting patiently for almost eight years for this government to do something, anything, to prevent and better manage contaminated sites that have cost us literally tens of millions of dollars. With little to no fanfare, Environment and Climate Change has finally released a new environmental guideline for contaminated site remediation with a public comment period of about six weeks less the evacuation period. While the steps and process laid out in the document appear to be sound, there are some critical admissions and failures. It is hard to believe...

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I'm just not sure I have anything further to say. I'm really tired, I just yeah, I think this was a good discussion and debate. I don't expect that it's going to pass but I want to, I guess, get on the record that I think whoever's negotiating these agreements in the future and I don't think there's any reason to be afraid of them. Some people are going to say that about whatever I said but that's fine.

I guess two things: I think Ministers doing their job well in a consensus government system, they should be coming to standing committee. They shouldn't just wait...

Yeah, that's good to hear. But I asked whether there was any work with Regular MLAs about including Private Member's bill within the scope of this bill before it was given to us. Thank you.

Yeah, that's all great. And I do appreciate this Minister's approach to BDIC. And I think the new management has been great there too. I've heard lots of positive things. And I want to say that publicly. So, you know sorry, I'm picking on you on the name change, but the rest of it has been good. Everything I've heard. But I have heard complaints from small businesses about the name change. People feel some businesses don't think it's a good idea. They don't like it. And I guess what I'm getting at here is that there wasn't, in my opinion, and from having reviewed the documents, that I'm not...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill 85 be amended by adding the following after subclause 12(2):

(2.1) Before entering into an agreement under this section, a Minister authorized under subsection (1) shall provide notice to and seek comments from the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, or any successor committee that may be established by the Legislative Assembly. Thanks, Madam Chair.