Robert C. McLeod

As I said before to the Member's first point, the schedules can be adjusted during busy hunting season. It is something that we can have a look at. To his second point, no, we do not have a mandate or the authority to deal with issues around trespass or the use of other people's property.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House today to attend the first Ministers' meeting in Ottawa, Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 33, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2018-2019 be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right, I have Dr. Joe Dragon, who is the Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources; to my left, I have Lisa Dyer, who is the director of Environment, Environment and Natural Resources; and to my far right, I have Mr. Thomas Druyan, legislative counsel, Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am here to introduce Bill 27, An Act to Amend the Environmental Protection Act.

This bill makes several amendments to the act. It will:

remove the nonapplication provision;

authorize the Minister to determine that discharges are nuisances;

authorize the Minister to establish and make publicly available a register regarding environmental contaminants;

authorize the Minister to exempt persons from complying with the act or regulations in accordance with the regulations in place;

create a new exception to the prohibition against releasing contaminants for discharges...

Mr. Speaker, that was one of the core questions, and we have to determine what any carbon pricing revenue we use in the Northwest Territories, whether we use it in green energy programs, and how much will be used to offset the high cost of living and doing business in the North. We all know how expensive it is in the North, so we have to take all that into some serious consideration as we determine a mechanism going forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program 2016-2017 Annual Report." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I noted before, what we do with any revenues from the carbon pricing will still need to be determined, and this was one of the questions that we consulted with Northerners. We had over, I think over 300 responses to our online survey, and that was one of the questions that we had on there. We had some very good feedback. As I said before, we had just closed the consultation period, so we would like to have a look at a lot of the results because the government's vision for the Northwest Territories is really not a government vision for the Northwest Territories. It is actually a Northwest...

As the Member noted, the consultation period just ended and we are currently reviewing all these results. We are also working with the Government of Canada to better understand the impact of carbon pricing in provinces on cost in the NWT. There is a lot of our material and a lot of our goods come from southern jurisdictions. Once we have all this work done, we will be in a position to make decisions about the approach that the NWT plans on using. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, over the last few weeks Members of the Legislative Assembly have been working hard on reviewing the departmental capital budgets for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

As part of their review, Members of this House have recommended that investments to capital projects needed to support the implementation of junior kindergarten be advanced in 2018-2019.

I have considered this request with my Cabinet colleagues and offer the following commitment:

$1.255 million to advance projects associated with the implementation of junior kindergarten in 2018-2019. This amount includes...