Merci, monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Finance who has the lead on the Dominion Diamond Creditor Protection matter. It's my understanding that GNWT also has to consent to the transfer or signing of the water licence, land leases, land-use permits, and environmental agreement covering the Ekati Mine to any new entity. Licence and permits must be in place for any new owner to operate. Can the Minister confirm that the GNWT must consent to the assignment of a number of licences and permits to any new entity for the Ekati Mine? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is one of the critical roles that the GNWT plays, is that we are responsible as part of the bidding process that we would ensure that any prospective bidder, any prospective buyer, can undertake the requirements of the environmental licence and that includes undertaking or accepting the securities in a reasonable form. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for confirming that. If the insurance companies would not agree to the sale of the Ekati Mine to the new entity, it raises questions of what our Cabinet's position is. Regular MLAs were not consulted in any way on this sale. Can the Minister tell us what Cabinet's position was or is on the sale to the new entity and who else it was conveyed to and when?
It's not the GNWT that gets consulted on the sale of this company between private entities. There is an ongoing negotiation that is taking place between Dominion Diamonds and prospective bidders. It's not one into which the government should be putting its hand. Ultimately, in this case, being a CCAA proceeding, the court would be overseeing that process and would be overseeing that sale. What the role of the GNWT is, is to again ensure that our environmental process is respected, that securities are held in an appropriate manner, and at that point that is our role, that is the role that we perform.
As far as the thoughts of Cabinet, number one again is to preserve that environmental process that we have, and number two is to provide an environment and an atmosphere that will ensure a profitable mining industry. If we are able to do that, then it is certainly my hope that there will be, ultimately, a successful bid on the table and that the mine will reopen, but it's certainly not our role to reach inside of that private entity process.
I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, we are at the table in those proceedings. Apparently, we have legal counsel there, and we do have a say in terms of the transfer of any of these licences, so I hope that it is exercised in a reasonable way and that this side is consulted. The Dominion Diamond news release said that the insurance companies that issued the surety bonds refused to agree to the sale to the new entity, so can the Minister explain what is going on? Why won't these insurance companies agree to the sale of the mine?
I certainly wish I could give a detailed explanation of what is going on, but again, there is a large degree of what is going on is between private entities. I realize that, on the one hand, one news release is saying perhaps that one side of the deal walked away, but it may well be that another party might be saying the opposite, that it was, in fact, another member of that negotiation that were the ones that walked away or wouldn't agree. I think there needs to be some caution exercised before one of us here necessarily assumes what is happening. From our perspective, some of the parties are keeping us informed on their perspective, on what they see happening in that sale.
Again, our role, really, is to ensure our end of it is moving along in a reasonable fashion, and that is protecting the environmental process and ensuring that, to the extent that there is a bidder who may require the assignment of the environmental securities or the environmental agreement, we do what we need to do to ensure that that happens expeditiously. The Government of the Northwest Territories is not going to suddenly upend or change the environmental process that exists, the environmental agreements that exist, so at this stage, if the Member requires me to allay those fears, then I am certainly happy to do that. Our hope is that this mine will reopen and, if it does, it will be assuming the environmental agreements that are already in place.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, we all want to see the mine reopen, but I just don't want our government to get short-changed or the environment to get short-changed in the process. For the first time I can recall, GNWT accepted surety bonds as financial securities for this particular mine. Insurance companies don't stay in business by paying out. Can the Minister tell us whether it is Cabinet's position that these surety bonds should be converted to or replaced by the more reliable and irrevocable letters of credit issued by a Canadian chartered bank, and whether the GNWT has put this as a condition of sale or assignment? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
It was always an expectation that, over time, the surety bonds that were being held for this particular mining industry would convert over to irrevocable letters of credit. Right now, to be very simple about it, it's not a concern right now. From the perspective of the government, the surety bonds that we have can be called upon by the government if we need to, so from our perspective, they provide adequate security and assurance that, if the bonds needed to be called, if the securities needed to be called, they would be there. What they did provide was some flexibility to the company when it was initially undertaking the environmental agreement process. So that flexibility was there. It comes with protection for the GNWT, and at this point, there is really, from our perspective, no concern in continuing as it is right now and no intention of changing or reducing the level of security that we have or the form that it's in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
