Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I can live without the recommendation as it reads, but I think the real issue here is trying to prevent a conflict from happening in the first place. I think it is fair to say that everybody recognizes that the paramountcy of the land rights agreements, and that is recognized in this legislation, as well, but the trick is in ensuring that the resource management, the environmental legislation, that that's brought forward, really incorporates and recognizes the co-management regime that has evolved here in the Northwest Territories. I think that the real issue here is not so...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think, through the questions that I had of the Minister and his staff, I was trying to get to a point where we would better understand how this nomination process is really supposed to work.

I don't want to relive what was written in the dissenting opinion that we read into the House yesterday, but as I understood, the nomination process is supposed to happen quickly and is basically like a checklist. If the supplied information is provided, it should be just a straight conformity check that, once the supplied information is put together, a decision is made on forwarding...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'd like to recognize a couple of Pages from Frame Lake who have been here with us for this sitting, Carter Kasteel and Zakiya Yalahow. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That is my understanding of 10(6), that really the Minister can exercise a lot of discretion in deciding whether to accept an area or not for nomination. The Minister, under the act, though, also has a lot of discretion in accepting whether an area that has been nominated gets into the candidate phase and is actually formally established as a protected area. The Minister also has discretion about changing the boundaries of a protected area or even deregistering it, basically, doing away with a protected area. Those are found in other sections of the act. I am just concerned...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm sorry; I am going to put the law clerk a little bit on the spot here, if I may. I have a legal question, then. Even though there are, sort of, a checklist of items that the Minister shall consider under section 10(2) of the act, and they include, you know, that the area is made up exclusively of public land, and that there is consent given if there is private land there, that the area has to meet the purpose of this act and any prescribed eligibility criteria. Would it be fair to say that, under 10(6), the Minister still has discretion above and beyond those items that...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can I just get it clarified by the Minister then: so the intention is to bring all the other parts or sections of the act into force other than those that require forms or labs, and that that will happen shortly after assent? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can I ask whether the department has thought about what sort of criteria the Minister would use in exercising his or her discretion then in deciding whether to accept a nomination or not? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Does the department have any idea how long that regulation is going to require for forms and laboratories? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay. The Protected Areas Strategy, of course, was not a legislated process in any way, and what we are trying to do here is codify this process in a fairly prescriptive manner. Can the Minister tell us how long he would expect that the nomination process would take place under this bill? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have some questions with regard to the coming into force date of this legislation. I would like to know whether it's the intention of the Minister to bring this bill into force without delay? Thanks, Mr. Chair.