Kevin O'Reilly

Mahsi, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. But it's kind of like watching an old movie again and again and again. I've heard all of this before about why we're paying for land use planning up front and that I'll be here a year from now, Mr. Speaker, as I said, asking the same questions.

It's not clear to me why GNWT is fronting this funding for land use planning this large area that includes a traditional territory, of others including Tlicho First Nations and Metis. Are we doing this to try to expedite mining? I have no idea, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister explain why...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Lands about the slow progress outlining these planning outside areas covered by land rights agreements. Land use planning has been taking place in the Deh Cho for more than 20 years now. The last raised issue almost a year ago with the Premier in this House.

I'm not looking for excuses anymore but solutions and timelines. Can the Minister tell us the current status of the Deh Cho land use plan and why our government is holding it up. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Now, I'm getting somewhere. This is great. No, seriously, though, I do appreciate that the Minister's willing to review the situation and she's going to get back to me in writing. So I appreciate that very much.

When I had an earlier exchange with her on this issue and I was told that, quote, from the Minister, "The YZF regional airport manager is continuing discussions in an effort to find a solution to alleviate the apparent challenge with these lease payments", that's great. But I'm not sure what else we can do besides prorate or reduce the fees.

But can the...

Merci, Monsieur le President. That's great to hear the passenger traffic is increasing, but I didn't actually get a response to my question, as usual, Mr. Speaker. I asked for what kind of analysis was done before the waivers were rescinded as of January 1st.

But while these fees are significant for taxi drivers and their companies, I'm not sure that they're a vital revenue source for this Government.

Can the Minister tell us how many dollars were collected by charging the airport taxi stand licence fees at the Yellowknife airport and at all airports across the NWT in the last year and then the...

Mahsi, Monsieur le President. Further on the theme of the pandemic, we all know that COVID19 has had impacts on small businesses and questions persist about how this government can help operators get through the hard times. The taxi industry is a prime example and I have a specific ask for how this government can help.

With the collapse of the tourism industry and discouragement of nonessential travel, the volume of airline traffic has dramatically shrunk. Air Canada is out of Yellowknife market entirely. WestJet is on reduced service passenger volumes and other air carriers are way down as...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that information. It's interesting that these fees were only charged in Yellowknife, and it's only $45,000. I don't know why we can't do something about this. But, of course, we all look forward to the day when the pandemic restrictions are lifted and that we can get tourism going again. But if we don't have a taxi industry, how are they going to be able to serve the tourists that arrive here.

So will the Minister give that service sector the relief that it needs now and reinstitute the waiver on or at least prorate the taxi stand...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. Yellowknife taxi companies are looking for relief from airport taxi stand licence fees to get through the hard times. Can the Minister tell us what analysis, if any, was done on passenger traffic volumes before the decision was made to rescind the waiver on these fees as of January 1st, 2021. Merci, Mr. Speaker,.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. I don't think I got a response. I wanted some work done on the human health assessment work that was done back on the 2003 guideline, but I'll pursue that separately with the Minister. Clearly, there's a need to review this arsenic remediation guideline which currently only includes two land uses for residential and industrial use.

So in reviewing this guideline, is the Minister committing to expand the land uses that are considered, and then what, of course, are the implications for the Giant Mine remediation.

...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I'm sure he's already been briefed up on the excellent research by Messieurs Palmer and Jamison that proved the overestimation of natural background levels for arsenic in the Yellowknife area and the persistence of mining related arsenic after more than 60 years. We have an outdated 2003 arsenic remediation guideline that is based on this overestimation of background arsenic. Can the Minister tell us what the plans are now to review and update the drastically outdated arsenic remediation...

Merci, Monsieur le Président. I want to thank the Minister for that. I really do hope that she gets back to us in the House about these questions soon and makes that kind of information available to the public, because as a Yellowknife MLA, I'm getting questions about this now.

So my last question, though, on this topic, Mr. Speaker unless I put up my hand for a third round is, you know, the cost of construction materials is going is escalating exponentially right now. A sheet of plywood has gone up at least three times in value.

What is our government doing now...