Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Madam la Presidente. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 97319(2) Capital Estimates 20242025 and Tabled Document 97419(2) Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 20232024. Mahsi.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Like most of us in this Chamber, my family and I were the subjects of the mandatory evacuation orders in August and September. I want to extend my personal thanks to all those firefighters, support workers, and other essential service personnel that stayed behind to protect our communities. I also want to thank the Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Yukon governments, the nongovernmental organizations, the volunteers, and businesses that helped support our residents while we were away. I also want to acknowledge that as bad as Yellowknife had it, other...

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Yes, I do, Madam Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. Committee wishes to Consider Bills 29, 77, and 82, and Tabled Document 97319(2), Capital estimates 20242025. Mahsi.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I believe he's quite sincere, and I do appreciate his efforts on that front, so.

I believe it is time, though, Mr. Speaker, to start to think about lessons learned about a fire and emergency management from these evacuations. There should be an independent third-party public review, and I think one of the options that needs to be considered is the Public Inquiries Act. But I'd like to know from the Minister whether Cabinet has a position and a direction on such a review of fire and emergency management. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm sure the Minister recognizes that I'm going to keep fighting for better support for the evacuees. But during my statement, I recognized that it was quite an accomplishment to evacuate most Yellowknife residents safely over a very short period of time. However, there can and should be improvements made to how we work together with Indigenous governments, including legislative and policy changes. So can the Minister tell us how GNWT intends to work better with Indigenous governments in the future on emergency management? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier. With regard to the recent evacuations and adequacy of government supports, it's my understanding that evacuation costs are eligible up for up to 90 percent reimbursement under the federal guidelines for the disaster financial assistance arrangements. Page 19, eligible response costs include temporary relocation, shelter, food, clothing, rescue, transportation, and related social and inquiry services. End of quote.

So can the Premier confirm whether evacuation costs for NWT residents, including any GNWT initiatives such as the...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I have law clerk Toby Kruger sitting next to me who helped me develop and draft the bill. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks for the opportunity to offer opening remarks on Bill 29.

I just, first, want to thank the law clerk who assisted with the research, drafting instructions, and legal advice in preparing the bill. I want to also acknowledge the work of the Department of Justice staff who assisted with the drafting of the bill. And I also want to acknowledge the separation of my role on the committee and as sponsor of the bill. I always declared a conflict of interest if the bill was discussed at committee.

Madam Chair, I'm going to take a few minutes to actually go through a number...