Bob Bromley

Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier on aspects of our Devolution Agreement from my statement earlier today. I would like to note Schedule 7, Part E of the Devolution Agreement includes a list of potentially contaminated sites that will be transferred to the GNWT as of April 1st is my understanding.

Can the Premier confirm that we, the GNWT, will be receiving financial securities to cover all the liabilities accessed by our land and water boards when this transfer takes place on April 1st or what the schedule is? Mahsi.

That’s all I have, Mr. Chair. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With devolution implementation in less than six weeks, GNWT assumes responsibility for mines, oil and gas installations set up under “modern environmental review processes.” Already an enormous responsibility, if we are unprepared, this could become an enormous liability.

Under today’s system, each project, mine or whatever is required to post financial securities as part of the review process. This is meant to provide money that protects the public and the environment from closure and clean-up costs even if the operator goes bankrupt. Until April 1st, this financial...

Thank you. That sounds great. I’m wondering how the public will participate and I’m wondering if the Minister can assure us that these meetings will be public and full transparency will be provided through the opportunity for anybody to look at them as people are welcome to attend during this House session. Thank you.

I’m not quite sure that’s relevant to my question. Obviously they will need a terms of reference, it’s a pretty broad swath in the agreement. What is this? Is this government working with other governments? This government very legitimately needs a role to play and that role is not restricted to Cabinet. In fact, it’s not restricted to half of our public; it includes all our public.

Again, I will ask how will Regular Members have input into how this council works and other aspects that would typically be covered in a terms of reference if it’s going to be done without a terms of reference. I...

Thank you for that, Minister. If we have questions with the information that’s been provided by the department, is this confidential information or are we allowed to ask questions to clarify what the situation is?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In my simplistic view of things, of course, I see quite a difference between the lead role in informing and the lead role in negotiations. The Premier said we are taking over the lead role from the federal government. I also asked how the federal government’s role has changed. It could be simply the mirror image of what I’ve heard, but that doesn’t seem to go very far to actually explain how the fiduciary role of the federal government has changed in relation to these questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Minister of Finance does indeed present a rosy picture in his budget address, but unfortunately, it does not reflect the realities we are dealing with in this House. I would like to review some of his budget address comments here.

He noted that we are taking on considerable new responsibilities in about six weeks now, a little less, but I have strong concerns that we are not prepared to take these on in the manner intended and needed, and I will be speaking to this over the course of this session to make clear some of the shortcomings and liabilities that we and...

I’d be happy to wait, Mr. Chair. I didn’t hear the Premier say which section, but I’d be happy to wait for the appropriate one. Of course, we haven’t passed the whole department, so I’d also be happy to wait until we go to the final.