Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. On February 6th, I made a Member's statement about the Giant Mine Oversight Board and its office opening here in Yellowknife. I described the two main functions of the board, sound technical oversight of the Giant Mine Remediation Project and a research program.

This project was sent to an environmental assessment based on public concerns. One of the main issues was the absence of any commitment or funding for ongoing research and development to find a better solution than simply trying to freeze 137,000 tons of toxic arsenic trioxide underground forever. The...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. We all want the students who are in the program to be supported. There is going to be a lot less work to do because we are not taking in a new cohort. Is this really a prelude to cutting the programs completely? I just don't understand why we would make this reinstatement and how it is any different than what the Minister had already committed to do. Can the Minister provide some clarification of what is going to happen with the teachers for the program? There are going to be fewer students for them to be working with because we are not taking them...

Thank you to the Minister for that response. We won't actually see a change in the line items in the main estimates in terms of the contribution to be made to Aurora College. Is that what I am hearing?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the commitment from the Minister on that. We know April 1st is coming up quickly. There is a provision in the agreement for dispute resolution. I am wondering, would the Minister be prepared to recommend that the Giant Mine Oversight Board invoke the dispute resolution process under the environmental agreement if we can't resolve this quickly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I am aware that there is provision in the agreement for the federal government to go to the Treasury Board to resolve this on a permanent basis, but there is a way for them to address the issue right now, and that is just simply to increase the contribution agreement for the next year by the amount that was unspent in the previous year. That would allow for, essentially, a carryover. I guess I would like to know from the Minister what he believes are the next steps that he and his staff will take to get implementation of this key feature of the agreement back on track?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Did any of those positions have any roles to play with regard to negotiations? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just pursue this issue of changes to the diamond mine environmental agreements a little bit further with the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Earlier, I said that I can assure the Minister that the initiative to change the agreements last time to remove the federal government from the agreements was actually coming from our government, GNWT. I am pleased to hear him say that is not the case now, that there were some letters sent in December of 2016 about changes. Can the Minister table some sample letters in this House just so we have a better...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The Minister is a good mindreader today. How much is in the heritage fund now? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was not sure exactly where to ask this question, and it's partly a product of the merger of these two departments. In the business plan for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations it shows a staffing reduction of four positions from 201617 to 201718 in Yellowknife headquarters. I am wondering if someone can explain to me how that shows up in this amalgamation of these two departments and what those four positions were all about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I thank the Minister again that he recognizes that there was opposition to the sorts of changes that were being proposed by our government on the environmental agreements in the past. So can the Minister explain how his department intends to meaningfully consult with Indigenous governments and the public regarding any amendments to the diamond mine environmental agreements?