Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. A few commitments out of the Minister here today. I appreciate that.

I talked earlier today about how, on the Infrastructure Canada website, it shows that 79 per cent of our federal infrastructure dollars since 2002 have been spent on roads and highways. This has led to a big imbalance. I have referred to this as the "big toys for big boys" approach.

Can the Minister explain this imbalance and how he will work to ensure that more social infrastructure projects make it through Cabinet's processes and into GNWT submissions for federal infrastructure funding? Mahsi...

I want to thank the Minister for that. It sounds like the mandate, the 20-year capital plan, is driving what we submit, but I had hoped to hear that there were some other kinds of rigorous analyses around the number of jobs that would be created, greenhouse gas reductions, regional distribution, and a balance between physical and social infrastructure. If the Minister has these criteria that he and his Cabinet colleagues use internally, can he share those with this side of the House?

I want to thank the Minister for that. So it's very clear, the work that OROGO is doing has nothing to do with the caps that are set in Cabinet's regulations. Earlier today, I recounted the massive costs that can be associated with spills or debris from accidents relating to oil and gas exploration and development. Greenland and Norway have eliminated all liability caps in relation to such accidents. The Auditor General of Canada recommended that such caps for offshore development be reviewed and changed. Would the Minister agree that the liability caps in our regulations put our government at...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, who sets regulations for onshore oil and gas development and aggressively promotes that development. The Oil and Gas Spills and Debris Liability Regulations set absolute liability limits between $10 and $40 million, depending on the location of spill or debris. As I said, the Deepwater Horizon disaster resulted in fines and settlements more than 200 times that maximum amount. I know it's offshore, but onshore can cost us a lot of money, as well. Can the Minister explain why there are these...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm not very happy with the response from the Minister. These regulations are less than four pages long. In fact, I believe they are actually one page long, and the limits are just set here. I don't understand what the difficulty is in reviewing these caps.

What sort of process does the Minister envision going through to review a one-page regulation? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that. We are starting to get on the same page here. I would like to ask the Minister: why have the caps not been reviewed in the four-and-a-half years since devolution?

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. We are actually talking about the regulations. That is something the Minister has direct control over. He can take this to his Cabinet colleagues and get those regulations changed next week if he wants. So the liability caps in place through the Cabinet-approved regulations are identical to the ones in federal offshore regulations that have not been changed in over 30 years. These caps fly in the face of the polluter-pays principle which has been endorsed by our government. Does the Minister agree that the liability caps in our...

I don't think it's actually all that complicated. The Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations is currently consulting on managing potential cost for spills and debris associated with oil and gas activities or infrastructure. Can the Minister confirm whether the scope of that review includes changing the Oil and Gas Spills and Debris Liability Regulations or eliminating the liability caps set in those regulations? That's something that Cabinet does.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Our government passed mirror legislation and regulations for resource management that came into effect as part of the devolution process. In the Oil and Gas Operations Act, section 52 allows for the making of regulations under this legislation. The Oil and Gas Spills and Debris Liability Regulations were made under this authority and set absolute liability limits of between $10 and $40 million, depending on the location of a spill or debris caused by oil and gas exploration and production. If damages exceed the absolute liability limits, then all parties may be...

Thanks to the Minister for that. Interestingly, a couple of days ago, we had the Premier saying that we are going to go and negotiate an entire offshore co-management regime when there is nothing happening with offshore oil and gas. I think there is a more likely prospect of onshore, and we have to make sure that we protect our citizens and our taxpayers and our government from liability. When will these regulations be reviewed? The Minister could do it next week if he wishes, but when is the Minister going to review these regulations?