Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I do have some questions about those other items. I see that they are covered through the other activities, so I'll wait until we get to those other ones. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that response. Is there a publicly available plan or schedule or anything to do this work? I have yet to see that, and I am as anxious as the Minister to get some of this work done. I am not aware of any public plans or schedules to do this. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Committee would like to consider Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022, with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, smells like a duck, it is a duck. This is core funding. Look, I'm sure that meeting every two weeks with the chamber is great. I wish that all NGOs had that kind of access to our departments. That's really great, but I don't see a similar sort of increase for other NGOs that get core funding. I am just going to leave that there for now, Madam Chair. I want to go over to the line item on 215, which is Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act implementation. The Minister, in her opening remarks, talked about how there is $360,000 for...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that. This government's anti-poverty strategic framework dates from 2013. Many of the key indicators around income disparity, food security, housing, and more have actually gotten worse since 2013. Can the Minister tell us when there will be a formal evaluation of our poverty work and more systemic solutions put forward such as guaranteed basic income, a living wage, or even economic restructuring? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I want to continue on the line of my colleague about staff that we have that are dedicated to oil and gas. Look, I know some of these people. They are hardworking. The reality is: there hasn't been any exploration, seismic drilling, since devolution, seven years ago. I'm not quite sure what everybody does, but yesterday, we heard about OROGO having a third-party assessment done of their resource needs. Is that something that the Minister is prepared to look at in terms of the oil and gas function within ITI, having a third-party assessment to look at resourcing? Thanks...

I want to thank the Minister for that. Look, I know that she is a passionate advocate on the issue of poverty and actually had a lot to do with the first strategy that was developed. I was a little bit disappointed to hear that response, so I might try something else. I'm aware that the work is under way in collaboration with the federal government to produce an updated northern market basket measures that would allow us to better monitor and track poverty here, especially in smaller communities. Can the Minister update us on this work including when a northern-specific market basket measure...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I am concerned, then, that we are actually reducing money to a community that now has an all-weather road. Hopefully, we can reopen later this year to allow tourism to start. Why are we reducing this funding now? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks. That's something I will just continue to keep an eye on, and I want to thank the Minister and his staff for the collaborative exchange. Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. My last area of questions here is with regard to legislative drafting. I know the Minister and I had an exchange in the House the other day that was a little bit mischaracterized by some in the media. How many people do we actually have in the legislative division that support the development of legislation, or is this function actually in each of the departments? Thanks, Madam Chair.