Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. On October 31, 2018, I asked a written question of the Minister of Finance requesting the value of annual production by individual non-renewal resource commodities extracted in the Northwest Territories from 1999 to 2017, along with royalties collected on such production by individual commodities. On February 12, 2019, the Minister tabled the production figures as requested, based on publicly available information compiled by Statistics Canada. The royalties collected; however, were only supplied for 2014 to 2017 and aggregated by oil and gas and then by minerals...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think I am asking for a simple commitment here. I would like to know whether the Minister is committed to get back to standing committee with (a) the reasons why the surplus is growing, and (b) what the department is going to do to try to get more money out the door to help victims of crime. Can the Minister make that commitment? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to thank my colleague from Yellowknife Centre for asking questions about the victim assistance funds. I just had a couple of quick ones, perhaps. Can the Minister tell us why the surplus is growing? Is it an issue of not enough applications to use up the funding, or are applicants being turned down? What is going on? Why is the surplus building? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. While I appreciate the Minister keeping a careful eye on it, that is not the same as an actual evaluation. I guess I remain to be convinced. Has the department reached out to the Law Society or defence counsel to get their views as to how this is being implemented and whether it is an improvement, or how it is affecting access to justice? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us, then, how this pilot project is going to be evaluated, and is he willing to share that evaluation with the appropriate standing committee? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this is where the court registries is found. As I understand it, I think it was last year that the court system went to a different way of doing court reporting. I wonder if the Minister can give us an update on how that has worked out. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Now we get that it's restricted because of wording in the Lands Act, so I look forward to that being changed. Canada is a supporter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and has provided funding to a variety of countries, such as Peru, Indonesia, Tanzania, and even Mongolia to fix up how they report revenues. This country has adopted the standard through the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act, so can the Minister tell us when our government will get on board and begin to report royalties paid by commodity type, or even by individual...

Thanks to the Minister for that. So that explains some of the reasons, that the federal government combines it, and so on, but last week I tabled extracts from a privately published book by a former deputy minister and devolution negotiator that clearly showed the resource royalties paid to the federal government from 1980 to 2009. Can the Minister explain how such information was published, and yet he could not provide it in response to a written question from a Member of this House?

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to my colleagues. The corporate sector also supports the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and those supporters including Anglo American and Rio Tinto, which are owners and operators of two of the three NWT diamond mines. Private multinationals seem more committed to transparency than our Cabinet.

What democratic government doesn't support openness and transparency in public reporting of resource royalties? I will have questions later today for the Minister of Finance. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, I am glad that the Minister is going to have a conversation with the staff and that they are going to talk to the people that administer the fund. Can the Minister then make a commitment to get back to us and provide an explanation as to why the surplus has been growing over time? Is it there are not enough applications? Is it that there maybe hasn't been enough promotion? Can the Minister make a commitment to get back to standing committee with the reasons why the surplus is growing and what the plan is going forward to make sure that the money is disbursed? Thanks...