Kevin O'Reilly

Okay, thanks. I appreciate that, and I am sure the Minister will remind me if I forget about it and do not raise it during business planning review. I just have one other comment that I want to make. I agree with my colleague who chairs the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment, the MLA for Yellowknife North, because I sit on the committee, as well. The reason why this is coming forward is because of Cabinet's fiscal strategy of cutting programs and services to fund infrastructure. So they have cut the funding that comes to BDIC by $1.9 million over two years to meet...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am all for transparency, as well. Can the Minister then commit to share his decision on this with committee so that we know how he has exercised his discretion, whether he has approved the request by BDIC and, if he hasn't, the reasons why he has turned it down? Can he share that information with committee? I know this is a new thing. In the interest of transparency, can he share that with committee moving forward? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That was almost going to set a record for the shortest answer ever, but it didn't really provide any detail. What kind of criteria or what is the Minister looking for when he is going to be reviewing this use of interest funds? He has total and unfettered discretion here, so what is he going to be looking for in approving use of these funds by BDIC? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the Minister for that information. He did not answer the last part of my question, whether he was willing to table that letter in the House without delay, so I would like to repeat that question.

Merci, Monsieur le President. The federal deadline for a carbon pricing plan has come and gone, and the public has heard almost nothing from our Cabinet colleagues on an issue commanding priority attention everywhere else. I pointed out this gap in this House on February the 12th. Nothing meaningful has been revealed since. On July 26th of last year, the Minister of Finance released a discussion paper and public comment on carbon pricing, and that public comment period closed on September the 15th. A public survey was also conducted.

Where are the results of the public engagement? Here we are...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will be supporting this motion. Part of the problem here is that we do not even have a plan for implementation of cannabis legalization. We have asked for that. I know we dealt with that in the first motion, but we do not even know what the costs are going to be. You know, the Regular MLAs who travelled to the communities, we were put in the position of having to explain that all the revenues were just going to go into the consolidated revenue fund. There is no guarantee that any of this money, revenues from cannabis sales, is actually going to get spent on health...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to acknowledge the additional information that we did receive from the Minister of Justice on enforcement, and we had a discussion around this in the clausebyclause review. It does appear that our Cabinet colleagues and their staff have been doing some work to try to clarify the issues around enforcement, but obviously there's still a lot of confusion out there, and that's why I think this is a good idea and I will support it. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I support this motion. I have been asking for this kind of information for over a year from our Cabinet colleagues. I raised it during business plans, and we still do not have anything. The effect of this motion is to ask that that plan be developed and given back to the standing committees. Look, I recognize that this is something new and that it's evolving, but, if you do not even have a game plan, how are we going to do it? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

The Executive's 2030 Energy Strategy and a Climate Change Strategic Framework relies heavily upon greenhouse gas reductions, supposedly resulting from a major expansion of the Taltson hydro-electric system.

Could the Minister describe the phases of the Taltson hydro-electric expansion set out in the 2030 Energy Strategy, including the following:

Identify the timeframes of construction, how each phase of construction will be financed, and to whom will the energy be sold;

Po...

I look forward to the briefing and getting the letter tabled so that we can tell the public what is going on. Our government apparently participated with federal government experts to prepare some sort of a study on the impacts of carbon pricing on the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister tell us whether that study has been completed and, if so, when it will be publicly released?