Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Employment Standards Act attempts to carefully balance the rights of workers and the interests of employers. Recently, I had a constituent raise concerns about how a simple complaint has taken more than four months to get sorted out. Can the Minister tell us whether response times are actually tracked for Employment Standards Act complaints, and can he share a summary of that information now? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's exactly what I'd hoped to hear and would expect from our public service and our leaders, so thank you very much for that. In general, is there a written inspection report provided to a business owner after an inspection is conducted? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is there standardized training provided to the public health officers when they're designated under the Public Health Act with regard to COVID?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm wondering: if this was deleted, could the funding be brought back through in a supplementary appropriation once the agreement is signed? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just made my point. We are not making a financial contribution for land use planning in the Gwich'in or the Sahtu settlement area. Yes, we are at the table. We help participate. We provide information and so on, but we don't make a financial contribution there because the federal government pays for it, as they should, in terms of the land rights negotiations agreements that were reached for those two settlement areas. Why are we paying for land use planning in the Wek'eezhii management area? This should be a federal responsibility under the Tlicho agreement. Can I get an...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I think we have a difference of opinion about that. There were provisions in the land rights agreements, as well, for the arbitration panels to serve this function, and I think that would have been a far better way to deal with this than set up this separate legislation. We don't have the money secured for this. Why is it appearing in the budget if the money has not been secured, and what would happen if there was no agreement signed with the federal government? We would have to expend our own money? Is that what would happen? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I thought I was patient, but 22 more years, it better not. Look, I'd understood that the subsurface for Edehzhie needs to be transferred to the federal government so that it can actually formally set up as a national wildlife area. The money can then flow from the federal government. This is on hold while our government continues to twiddle its thumbs about whether we're actually going to transfer the land back to the federal government. It should never have been given to us in the first place under devolution. I don't know why that ever happened. It's my understand you have to transfer the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This board has been in place for eight years. It has never had a dispute. Can someone tell me what the cumulative total of the money that has been spent for this board has been over the eight years? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm hoping that I can bargain the other side down to a lot less than two years. As I've said, this has been dragging on for 20 years, and I know some of the people who have been engaged and involved in this over that period of time. It's just incredible. There's been at least two or three plans prepared. They were rejected by our government not once, twice, three times, so we're the problem now. It's our government that's the problem. I'm hearing, though, that the Edehzhie subsurface land transferred to the federal government, that's going to happen in the next six months...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. You got it right. I appreciate that. One of the items in this section is found on page 312, the Northwest Territories Surface Rights Board. I raised this with the Minister back in January about whether the funding had been received from the federal government for this. Can the Minister tell us whether there's an agreement in place for the funding for this board? Thank you.