Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ultimately, I will be supporting this motion. I just wanted to speak to a few things. I think we have to limit expectations of what the role of the Auditor General is. The Auditor General does not make political decisions. They ultimately review financials, and they have been involved with this project extensively and may review compliance with policies. I think there is a larger question here, and it's ultimately a political one, and it's one we're stuck with. If I were in charge back when this decision was being made, I would not have built this hospital, Mr. Speaker...

One of my concerns regarding this is that there are no plans currently to bring the City, Towns and Villages Act forward during this Assembly. I know the department has a lot of work to do regarding the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, which ultimately ties into the city charter issue. My concern is that the municipalities have been asking for the Property Assessment and Taxation Act to be brought forward for over a decade, and the department has been very slow to do so. I don't want to be standing here in a decade, asking about a Yellowknife city charter. Would the Minister be willing to...

Thank you. I assure you I will reach out to the Minister of Finance and give her some more work to do. Sorry. No further questions at this time, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my next question, too, is: we as standing committee will be taking the Wildlife Act out on a legislative review; is the Department of ENR willing to provide assistance in that review that will be done by committee?

Listen, I get that I am probably not going to get the Minister of ENR to commit to a legislated target that is enforceable right now in this question period, although that is what I would like to see. A number of researchers have suggested one of the best ways from the Northwest Territories, given the remoteness of our communities and the difficulty of getting off diesel, is simply for us to purchase carbon offsets or to acquire the Power Corporation or other large emitters, industrial people, to purchase carbon offsets, which would then allow us to meet our carbon targets by funding other...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, so I guess I am confused. We have the Traditional Knowledge Policy, and can I get the clarification how this works? We also have a knowledge agenda action plan 2019-2024, which I believe is actually under EIA. Can I get some clarification on how the Traditional Knowledge Policy, the traditional knowledge implementation, and the knowledge agenda action plan work?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will take that as "when we get a person to staff the position," then we can go from there. I guess my question is: do our air regulations have any plans to regulate the amount of CO2 emissions?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was hoping I could have the Minister speak to any work we are doing to expand guardianship programs. I know a number of Indigenous governments are looking to expand their guardianship programs, and that overlaps with some of the work ENR is doing, so I am hoping I can get a commitment out of the Minister that we will see more guardianship programs run by Indigenous governments with the assistance of ENR.

I guess what I'm getting at, this is the same kind of issue with contaminated sites, is that they lie within ENR, Lands, and then a bit with EIA, as well. I guess what I'm looking for is, you know, this is largely a political discussion, but whether the Minister is willing to look into if there is any benefit to keeping all of our securities expertise spread out in different departments, along with contaminated sites. I recognize OROGO has to be separate, and I recognize EIA has to have theirs, and I know no one ever wants to talk about corporate restructuring, but I was hoping the Minister...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was hoping the Minister could give me an update in relation to the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations under the Fisheries Act, and any work being done under our corresponding Waters Act.