Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank the Minister for that great news about more money being available, and I look forward to the details of that. I have reviewed the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan and acknowledge that it was collaboratively developed and its technically sound. The problem has been with habitat protection, where virtually nothing has been done in terms of execution. Can the Minister tell us when this government is finally going to protect key habitat, either temporarily, with recommended mobile caribou-conservation measures, or permanent land withdrawals?

Merci, Monsieur le President. In the last Assembly, I made over ten statements on the caribou crisis. It's now an emergency, and all our government has done is some planning, restrict harvest, fund some research and increase the wolf bounty.

On October 4, 2019, the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board released its decisions on Tlicho Government and GNWT joint management proposal for the Bathurst caribou herd. Here are a couple of short quotes:

"The Board notes that there are no dates for implementation of Bathurst Caribou Range Plan Policies, nor is there any framework or timelines to judge how...

Merci, monsieur le President. My question is for the Premier. Cabinet Ministers and GNWT staff travelled to Vancouver during the week of January 18 to 23, 2020, to attend the Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup. Can the Premier provide a list of all the NWT Ministers and staff who travelled to Vancouver for the meeting, and:

total cost of travel, including transportation, showing air travel by executive versus economy class, accommodations, expenses, and associated allowances;

any related contract costs for the trip, particularly costs of conference registration, exhibitor staffing, any...

That's great to hear from the Minister, that we've got a transboundary water agreement, but that shouldn't stop us from taking a position on this project that's upstream of us. We're not going to get any benefits; we're just going to get the effluent downstream. I'd like to know from the Minister: he's talked about this transboundary water agreement with Alberta. What help can that agreement give us in terms of adverse impacts?

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. We have had devolution now for five years, and we don't have a proper, robust regulatory framework for closure and reclamation in place, five years, Mr. Speaker. It is my view that the government doesn't really have a great track record in managing resources in the post-devolution world. In an unprecedented move, the Minister turned back a decision on a water licence amendment, following a request from a diamond mining company. Then unilateral changes were made to measures arising from an environmental assessment of the...

I want to thank the Minister for that detailed information. It didn't really still answer the question of how this happened under our watch. More than five years after devolution, it appears our government still doesn't have an early-warning system on operations like Strategic Oil and Gas, that place taxpayers at significant financial risk. The commitment to develop a financial security system to prevent public liabilities remains unfulfilled from the 18th Assembly. As GNWT is a big promoter of oil and gas development, can the Minister tell us what the plans are to prevent future public...

Merci, Monsieur le President. On August 20, 2018, I made a Member's statement on the environmental liabilities related to the Cameron Hills oil and gas field owned by Strategic Oil and Gas Limited. From the questions I asked the then Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, it appears the GNWT is on the hook for any shortfall between the roughly $3 million in financial security currently held and the unknown liability which the court-appointed monitor appears to have estimated at over $12 million, and possibly much, much higher.

Despite having a clear mandate from the 18th Assembly to...

I want to thank the Minister for that. This is something I have been working on for most of my adult life here in the Northwest Territories, over 30 years, so I look forward to working with this Minister to try to get this where it needs to be. Strategic Oil and Gas, in preparing its conceptual closure and reclamation plan, relied on something called "Guidelines for Closure and Reclamation of Advanced Mineral Exploration and Mine Sites in the Northwest Territories." More than five years after devolution, our government does not appear to have put in place a coherent policy and regulatory...

Merci, Monsieur le President. In my statement earlier today, I noted that the publicly available end-of-life obligations for the Cameron Hills field as prepared by the court-appointed monitor appears to be over $12 million. The actual figure is probably much higher, and that leaves a significant shortfall from the $3 million held as financial security. My questions are for the Minister of Lands. Can the Minister explain how our government failed to ensure that financial security held for Cameron Hills does not at least equal the liabilities, and who will make up the difference? Mahsi, Mr...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to recognize one of my constituents, Brianna Hardisty. She is with the SADD group today. Earlier, we had another Frame Lake Page, Monika Kunderlik. I want to recognize her work. She is a repeat Page, so very pleased to have her here earlier in the sitting. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.