Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, monsieur le President. The Wek’eezhii Renewable Resources Board released part A of its decision on the joint Tlicho Government and GNWT management proposal for the Bathurst caribou herd on May 26th of this year. This decision focused on the state of the herd, harvest restrictions in time for the 201617 season, and wolf control. Part B will come later this summer and will feature recommendations on biological and environment monitoring and cumulative effects.

Mr. Speaker, the board found that "despite all the management actions taken over the past seven years, the herd is still declining...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. It's not a question about the court library, so the Minister can breathe a huge sigh of relief. I should have asked this earlier about the office of the regulator of oil and gas operations. Since the staff are government employees, how does the department and the government ensure the independence of this office? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am assuming this is the part of the department's budget where there would be funding to prepare a plan to get all the communities of the Northwest Territories off diesel. Is that where that sort of funding would be found? Is that something that the department is working on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm going to approach this cautiously, because I have the greatest respect for the staff in this office. As I understand it, these folks are all employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Is that correct, Mr. Chair?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Just so I understand this, the entire budget for the Surface Rights Board is coming from the feds, and how long is that going to last for? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr Chair. Could the Minister undertake to provide a copy of this report from the Special Committee of the Law Society that I think it was submitted in 2013, and then if there was a departmental response to the recommendations, could he also provide that to the appropriate standing committee? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer, and it's the policy direction I certainly want to go in. Is this something that the department's going to continue because we just had the North Slave resiliency study that actually recommended against doing this. So what direction is the department going to go in with this? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm all for efficiencies. Does the department then have any specific plans on how it is going to monitor access to justice? What specific indicators? Is there going to be satisfaction surveys? I don't know. What are the specific plans of the department to actually monitor and track access to justice and how the department is going to improve on that over the term of this Assembly? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. I know I am the only thing standing between us and dinner. Happy to get that in writing from the Minister. I did have one other question though if I could. Going back to the Minister's opening remarks, he talks about, in his opening remarks, the amalgamation of the liabilities of the financial assurances division and the project assessment branch -- and that is, I think, the section of Lands we are talking about here -- and how there can be some policies and procedures developed, particularly around the area of securities. I keep asking about this stuff...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm just not quite still sure how the department is going to monitor this, but I don't think this is the place to follow it up. Thanks, Mr. Chair.