Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I can't probably ask whether that can be shared with the standing committee. But if there's some terms of reference or some kind of summary of what's taking place and a timeline, can the Minister commit to share that with standing committee? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to speak to the principle of the bill. This is probably one of the shortest bills this Assembly will ever deal with, but I think it's important that the public and media understand what this bill is all about. And I believe that the Member for Thebacha has explained it probably much better than I'm going to try to do right now. But what this is really to do is to replace the current way of calculating MLA's indemnity, or salaries, office holders, and allowances. Right now those are changed according to the consumer price index as of April 1st each year...

Okay, thanks. And are those you know, we get these letters about interfund transfers from some Ministers usually kind of on the capital side, if I remember this correctly. So is there any kind of heads up to Regular MLAs about when it's on the O and M side, and how does the Minister tend to communicate that to the Regular MLAs? And I'm not saying every time you shift a dollar around, but having some kind of plan or, you know, when you figured it out, some communications with us, I think that would be helpful. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks for that. Yeah, and I look forward to the letters the Minister's going to table. But I guess I want to go back to, you know, where we started with some of this stuff, and this was the move on the part of maybe the Alberta and federal governments to have some sort of control discharge from these humongous tailings ponds. And, look, I'd rather have a controlled discharge if the water's treated properly than this kind of stuff happening because this kind of stuff is going to happen; it's going to continue to happen until it's inevitable. So where are we at with this process to look at...

Yeah, okay, thanks for that. Yeah, I have a funny feeling that this is going to become one of the key issues that's part of the regional study. So I don't think I have anything else. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I just don't really understand why the work with the Intergovernmental Council can happen in parallel with public engagement. This department and others just seem to leave the public engagement to the very end of the process. By then all the important decisions are made; it's too late.

So, you know, can the Minister tell us if there is actually going to be any meaningful public engagement on the development of the Public Land Act regulations including the forms of acceptable financial security? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So is this just kind of moving over the regional operations that used to be in the Department of Lands and creating a division, or whatever, within the new department; no other changes, is that's what's happening here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Sorry, thanks, Madam Chair. I wasn't clear; my apologies. I don't have anything further on this first activity. Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Are we likely to see even one square centimetre actually protected of critical caribou habitat within the lifetime of this Assembly? New habitat protection. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course I probably should have squeezed in when is it going to be released? But our government is poised to accept surety bonds without a real plan to prevent further public liabilities like Giant Mine, Cameron Hills, Mactung, Ptarmigan Mine, and more. Can the Minister tell us when GNWT will change its approach to financial security and regularly accept surety bonds? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.