Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not to belabour this, but I assume that there are strings attached to this money and how it is used, or has it been given to us with broad latitude to develop the programming as we see fit? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to confirm the other part of my question, it is in the Minister's opinion that this will not impact this Assembly's ability to deliver on its legislative agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister. That's a much clearer response. The workshops that we're providing to Indigenous governments or Aboriginal governments, whatever terminology we're using, are those designated authorities or are those self-governments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Would those devolutionrelated issues be related to legislative drafting? I am wondering if the Minister can provide details. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do understand that, but is the Minister willing to look at those kinds of solutions as a way to increase efficiency and improve service delivery? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am certainly not questioning the competency of our Cabinet Ministers. That is not what is at stake here. What is at stake here is maintaining the confidence that decision-making is publicly recorded. The many lobbyists of jurisdictions have lobbyist registries that provide a certificate that says what a lobbyist is going to be doing, who they are speaking to, and reports of communications between government and their clients. I guess I continue to fail to understand why this isn't required for our jurisdiction. We have a rather large budget at our disposal. How we...

Mr. Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity of regional operations under the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Main Estimates 2017-2018 on page 330 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Can the Minister elaborate on why the size of our jurisdiction does not require to know who is influencing government decision-making? Apart from a list of meetings that is published by choice, there is nothing in legislation that requires an increased level of scrutiny on who the government is talking to. We have industry here. We have the involvement of large corporations involved in the resource sector. Is this not a priority, that our citizens be informed of who our decision makers are meeting with when they are outside of this building? I would like to hear an answer from the Minister.

How many policy analysts or positions are with the department? I will start with that. Thank you.

All right. One more, Mr. Speaker, and thank you. If there was data that showed that the arsenic levels in Kam Lake were over 52 parts per billion, would a public health advisory be issued by the department and would people know in Kam Lake immediately that there was a concern and that they should avoid it?