Kevin O'Reilly

Well, I can assure the Minister that this site does not have a water license. There's no land use permit for this site. It's privately owned lands. I'd like to know who is actually responsible for cleaning it up and what our general regime is. But two and a half years after devolution, I'm not aware of any specific changes to policy, regulations, or laws to ensure that we have a proper system in place for preventing and managing contaminated sites. When can we expect to have a proper system in place?

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today I spoke of the apparent failure of the Department of Lands to respond to questions around contaminated lands adjacent to the Con Mine, namely lot 33C, group 964, plan 553, otherwise known as the Imperial Oil Tank Farm. Can the Minister of Lands tell this House who is responsible for remediation of that property, and when will it happen? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. The Con headframe has been in the news lately as part of the closure and reclamation plan of that site. I've expressed concerns about the closure plan for the Con Mine for many years as a private citizen living nearby. This was a productive gold mine that made significant contributions to Yellowknife since 1938, but I’m seriously worried about the environmental legacy it will leave behind. Water treatment alone will likely be required for hundreds of years, as will inspections and maintenance of the tailings pond covers and other structures, and a hazardous waste...

Glad to hear that we're going to get a map of the route that he mentions in his statement today, but can he then commit to work with his colleague that sits next to him in terms of getting us a map of key caribou habitat, and the reason why I'm saying this, Mr. Speaker, is the Bathurst caribou herd is a desperate situation, and we know where the post-calving, calving grounds of the herd are. I'm concerned about this road and it's routing, whether it's going to disrupt the caribou herd. So can the Minister commit to work with his colleague to table a map in this House that shows the route of...

In his statement, he says that a route has been identified that will provide the greatest economic benefit to the region in the Northwest Territories. So I'm just wondering can the Minister tell us how were environmental effects considered in the route identification?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response from the Minister, but I continue to make these Member's statements, raise questions around where is our system, and I just keep hearing these same sorts of answers. So I hope I'm not going to be here two years from now, asking the same questions over and over again. I keep giving the other side of the House some hints about some ways to look at how to improve our current system, but there doesn't seem to be much uptake.

In my Member's statement, I mentioned the Institutional Control Program in Saskatchewan, where mining sites are returned to the...

Now that we've got that clear, can the Minister of Lands indicate what is the general regime for remediation of contaminated sites that are on privately owned lands in the Northwest Territories?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, Saskatchewan has had an Institutional Control Program since 2005, where properly remediated sites are accepted back by the government with payments into two funds to cover monitoring and maintenance, and then unforeseen events. More than two and half years after devolution, we still do not have a proper closure and reclamation regime in place to prevent public liabilities for future generations. I will have questions for the Minister of Lands later today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Over the weekend the lead story on CBC's national website was about arsenic contamination throughout the Yellowknife area. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. What role is the Government of the Northwest Territories taking on the analysis and remediation of the widespread arsenic pollution beyond the borders of the Giant Mine site? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Committee Report 2-18(2) be received and adopted by this Assembly. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.