Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Giant Mine Oversight Board is responsible for independent oversight of the mine remediation project. That board recently held its second annual public information meeting in Yellowknife, attended by about a hundred people, including me. The meeting follows on the release of the board's second annual report. Earlier in this sitting I tabled a recent board letter to the Prime Minister of Canada on the need for an apology and compensation for the damage done by the Giant Mine. The board has also written an urgent letter to the federal Indigenous and Northern Affairs...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That dinner was a tough act to follow.

I made some remarks when we were discussing the committee report a couple of days ago where I thanked committee and the public, and I don't really want to go over that ground again, but I want to say that I do personally agree with legalization. I wish that we had more time, though, and that much of our efforts, and I think most of the efforts have been very well-intentioned, have been really fraught with poor communications. We have had to deal with a whole set of very complex, difficult issues, and it has been very divisive. I think we...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was going to let it go, too, but now I am not. This corporation was set up in 2005. If this had been identified as a problem a while ago, it should have been fixed a long time ago. The only reason this is before us today is because of Cabinet's fiscal strategy of cutting programs and services to fund infrastructure, and that is a strategy that I have opposed from the beginning, and that is why this is before us here though, is to try to help BDIC out of this hole that has been created by Cabinet's fiscal strategy. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I don't want to flog a dead horse here, but what gets tabled in the House, though, that is only after the Minister has approved it, presumably. So I want to know whether the Minister has actually approved the request by BDIC, the full request, or not, so can the Minister share that kind of information with standing committee? If it has to be done on a confidential basis, that is fine. I just want to know how this is going to operate the first couple of years. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. If I wasn't confused before. I am going to read the provision in the bill and I would like the Minister then to tell me how he is going to exercise this authority.

"The Minister may approve an operating budget of the corporation for the financial year that designates a portion of the amount of money received by the corporation in interest during the previous financial as money that is available to the corporation for the purpose of carrying on its business."

What criteria is the Minister going to use in deciding whether to approve that budget that is going to come forward from...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask the Minister how he sees himself exercising his discretion over the operating budgets that the corporation may put forward that start to use some of that interest. I see in the act that is his authority set out in Clause 5 of the bill. Can he just tell us how he anticipates exercising that ministerial authority? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The purpose of this motion is to ensure that communities have one more tool to look at the effects of cannabis in their communities, and, if they're not happy with what's happening, then they would have the ability to hold a plebiscite for a restricted-quantity system, even if there's an operating store. That could only take place, though, two years after a store opens and if 20 per cent of voters in the community prepare a petition and only after the Minister allows for a plebiscite to go ahead.

Just to refresh people's minds, a restricted-quantity system is one of the three options that are...

Merci, monsieur le President. I have three documents I wish to table today. The first is a letter from the Giant Mine Oversight Board to the federal Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and our Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, dated May 24, 2018, regarding Giant Mine remediation socioeconomic strategy.

The second document I wish to table, Mr. Speaker, is a copy of Bill C-262, An Act to Ensure that the Laws of Canada are in Harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as passed by the House of Commons, May 30, 2018.

The last document, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not going to keep us long because I know everybody's exhausted. We heard in every community, there were concerns raised about the age of consumption being set at 19 in this bill. The medical evidence does show that brain development of young people can be affected by cannabis consumption up to at least 25 years of age. We had health organizations ask us to raise the age limit for consumption. We heard that in some communities. It is only fair to say that that was not universal. I heard enough evidence that I felt that there needed to be some way to try to send very...

I want to thank the Minister for that. It sounds like more than one Minister is raising this matter in Ottawa, and that is a good thing. There doesn't seem to be very good tracking and reporting of northern benefits from this project. I would like to know: how does the Minister plan to begin tracking northern benefits from the Giant Mine remediation in accounting for the future economic impacts of this project? I understand it is being led by the federal government, but what is he going to do to help make sure that better tracking of benefits takes place?