Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Committee wishes to consider Committee Report 1519(2), Committee Report 1619(2), Minister's Statement 16119(2), Tabled Document 41319(2), and Mr. Chair, we'd like to consider the last two items together as one matter. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. WHEREAS this 19th Assembly agreed in its priorities to increase food security through locally produced, harvested, and affordable food;

WHEREAS the Northwest Territories has the second highest level of food security in Canada as defined by Statistics Canada;

WHEREAS in a 2018 survey of Northwest Territories residents, 23 percent were worried about not having enough food money for food and in some communities, it was greater than 50 percent;

AND WHEREAS the Northwest Territories' food system is extremely fragile and dependent on global markets, which the COVID19...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks very much to the Minister for that forwardlooking work by his department. I'm just wondering, were these payments like onetime payments or are they going to be ongoing in some way? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that very helpful and long answer. And I look forward to a much greater transparency on these meetings. But, you know, Mr. Speaker, if these meetings were actually happening in almost any other jurisdiction in Canada, they would be regulated under lobbyists registration or lobbyists legislation. Mr. Speaker, we are one of two jurisdictions in Canada that does not have lobbyist legislation. And I think that's increasingly important, especially in the postevolution world where we have responsibilities for billions of dollars of...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I think we've got a document problem in you're reading numbers from the tabled document but Members are working from a different. There's a couple of travel figures that seem to have been flipped.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have further questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment on the GNWTChamber of Mines COVID19 working group. Can the Minister tell us whether there's a terms of reference for this group and if so, could she table that in the House tomorrow? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. That's good to hear, that the money's going to be used to actually maintain services rather than pay bonuses or shareholders. Can someone tell me what the compliance record is? Have there been instances where the contribution agreements have been not complied with? And I don't need to know names and I wouldn't expect that names would be revealed. But have there been any compliance problems with the contribution agreements and if so, what was the have they been resolved? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The records of these meetings show that the chamber, and even ITI staff, are been pushing to stop or remove land withdrawals, most of which support good faith negotiations of Indigenous land rights. Can the Minister explain why her department is pushing to stop or remove land withdrawals in light of Cabinet's commitments and mandate to settle and implement Indigenous rights? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Rather than gobble up our valuable time, I'd rather have the Minister table it. But if someone could explain generally how the allocations are made, I think that's what I'm looking for. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. On March 4th, 2021 during the review of the ITI main estimates, I asked questions about the core funding received by the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. The ITI deputy minister said “we meet with the Chamber every two weeks in a working group. We are working on our competitiveness. We are looking at actions. They are contributing to the critical metals action plan. There is a lot of good work.”

This got me thinking. What could the Chamber of Mines and ITI senior staff possibly be talking about that requires meetings every couple of weeks? I'm not aware of any...