Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment. I’d like to follow up from my Member’s statement of earlier today on Giant Mine. As both a proponent and a regulator, I’m asking the Minister if he could ask himself and tell us when you will sign the agreed upon environmental assessment for Giant Mine and allow its implementation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We, along with the rest of the responsible Ministers, are waiting for the lead responsible Minister from AANDC to publicly announce the agreement and agreed upon recommendations and modifications. Thank you.
We often hear complaints about delays in process and so on, but really fundamentally most of the delays are because things end up on Ministers’ desks without resolution.
Could I ask why the delay? We’ve agreed upon it. Everybody has agreed upon it. Work is going ahead without being done under the conditions of the environmental assessment that everybody has agreed on. Why the delay?
Mr. Speaker, this is a project on a site that is under federal responsibility. The federal Minister of AANDC has hold of the pen and is investing his department. We, like everybody else, are awaiting his public release and approval of the report and the agreed to modifications. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. Will the Minister ask his federal colleague why the delay and report back to the House? Mahsi.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ll probably be delayed on the answer, but if it could be done during this session so the public is informed, that would be appreciated. Thanks for that commitment.
Work is needed, definitely needed. It’s a situation that we want to get resolved, and work is underway, but there is also the need for oversight to make sure it’s being done in the way that everybody has agreed upon.
Is the delay being done on purpose to delay public oversight? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the attribution of motive is not something I want to engage in. We know what is before us. We’re waiting for the federal Minister to give a public response. In the meantime, some work is carrying on. It has been taken out of the EA that has been deemed to be critical with the roaster and underground stabilization and such, but other than that, the project remains under care and maintenance until the federal Minister releases the final decision following the response from Ministers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Hawkins.
