Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have been thinking a lot about this, and clearly, there needs to be a division between the legislative branch and the executive branches of government. That is how democracies are supposed to work. Someone is supposed to hold the pen, and somebody else is supposed to take it and conduct a review of it.

These are very significant matters with a lot of public interest. A lot of time and effort went into the development of these bills. Through our process here in consensus government, standing committees get legislative proposes that outline general subject matter so that we...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to welcome the executive director of the NWT Seniors' Society to the gallery, Suzette Montreuil. She is also a Frame Lake resident and just happens to be my wife. I haven't really seen a lot of her in the last ten days, so hi, honey. Thanks for being here and there at home. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. In my opening comments, I mentioned how this is really a watershed moment in the development of legislation in regard to the environment and resources. We really do owe it to ourselves to take a close look at what kind of lessons we can learn from this.

I think that this report represents committee's effort, in the limited amount of time that we had, to put some thoughts together, but I think that it is at least equally, if not more, important to talk to the Indigenous government staff and Indigenous governments that were involved in this exercise and that people work...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It sounds like we are clearly on the hook now, and this happened post-devolution. I don't know, Mr. Speaker. Our government really doesn't have a very good track record in terms of managing resources in the post-devolution world. In an unprecedented move, a Minister turned back a decision on a water licence, and then, following a request by a diamond company, unilateral changes were made to measures arising from an environmental assessment of the Tlicho all-season road. There are financial security gaps for Canton, Prairie...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm trying to understand what the problem is, here. It's okay to report an aggregate amount of royalties paid, but it's not possible to report that as a breakdown because of some larger fiscal review that the Minister and his department want to undertake? Look, companies file, or will be filing, an annual royalty return. They remit money to our government. What is the problem in disclosing to the public what that figure actually is? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that subclause 24.7 of Bill 34 be deleted and the following substituted:

(7) A zone may be established under subsection (2), and the regulations establishing a zone may set out requirements that the Minister considers appropriate on the Minister's own initiative or as recommended by the proposing Indigenous government or organizations after

(a) the Minister engages with the applicable Indigenous governments and organizations in respect of the requirements; and

(b) a reasonable opportunity has been provided by the Minister for the public to provide comments on the merits...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I know this has been a long night, but I do owe it to my constituents to tell them where I stand on this bill. This is one of the few pieces of post-devolution legislation that was not co-drafted. We established that for the record here earlier in this House. I believe that this bill was too rushed. It was not what was promised. There were to be sets of amendments for administrative purposes to the Commissioner's Land Act and the Northwest Territories Land Act, and we ended up with a bill that merged the two systems.

The most egregious part of the bill, Mr. Speaker...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. There may be an industry understanding of what "prospecting" is, but it's not outlined in the bill. It requires a licence. You have to get a prospecting licence to do prospecting, but I cannot get a clear answer as to what it really means and what work. I understand, if somebody stakes a claim, only they can do prospecting on the claim, but what if you have a prospecting licence? What can you do off of a mineral claim? Can someone tell me that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. We did hear from the Northwest Territories Association of Communities. Sorry. I just can't recall now whether there was specific requests from the individual community governments for this ability to ask for temporary restricted areas. Were there any conversations like that between the department and community governments in developing the bill? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I, too, have very major concerns around section 51. Look, I'm all for benefits, and even if we have to legislate them, I'm fine with that. It could codify best practice, but this is written in such a broad, vague, permissive fashion it could mean anything. I understand what the Minister has said he intends to do; the problem is he may not be the Minister who develops the regulations in the 19th Assembly. It could be somebody else. It could be me; imagine that.

So the purpose that I heard the Minister talk about earlier was providing clarity, certainty, setting out...