Kevin O'Reilly

I do appreciate the commitment there from the Minister. I just want to make sure that there aren't any liabilities there. My next question is: was the GNWT aware that North American Tungsten had posted a $5 million promissory note as part of its financial security for the Cantung Mine? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Sorry, Mr. Chair, I'm trying to do two or three things at the same time. I apologize. I didn't really understand how we were going to go through this step-by-step, but if the Minister has his notes now that would be really helpful. I'll just skip through to the second question I had which is: Are there any liabilities associated with the Mactung property? I want to preface this because I was actually at Mile 222 of the Canol Road in the summer of 1981. Amax had a camp there, and they had a trailer. I understood that there was a tote road pushed into the property in the '70s, early '80s. There...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't want to gobble up my 10 minutes if the Minister doesn't have the responses to the rest of the questions that I provided. I'm just wondering how I might best proceed here.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and my apologies. I'm still learning the ropes here. I'd like to move the following motion: WHEREAS the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning has expressed its support for greater participation in the democratic process, thereby increasing opportunities for public engagement with respect to the work of the Standing Committees established under the Rules of the Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS this government has also recognized the importance of accessibility and transparency and has named the Minister responsible for Public Engagement and Transparency;

AND WHEREAS...

For some of the construction of the school, the federal government provided up to 80 per cent of the funding. Has the Minister of Education been in contact with Heritage Canada officials about any potential contributions to fund the expansion of Ecole Allain St-Cyr?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do appreciate the answers from the Minister. Once again, though, I am very concerned that this happened under our watch, part of it, and my objective in asking these questions here today is to show the importance of that division, the work that they do, and I know that they have started this work to get some sort of guidelines, policy framework, in place. They even changed legislation so that there are mandatory requirements for financial security, looking at the forms of the security, and even mandatory requirements for closure plans.

As a smaller government, we just can't...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Everyone in this House, especially me, will be relieved to know that my questions are in English.

---Laughter

In my Member’s statement earlier today I talked about the court-mandated expansion of Ecole Allain St-Cyr. Can the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment confirm whether he has begun discussions with the Commission scolaire francophone Territoires du Nord-Ouest and the [English translation not provided] for the expansion of the school?

Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. I am just wondering, when the GNWT took over the jurisdiction post-devolution, did we make any efforts to get the water licence security for Cantung increased? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Translation] Thank you. Transportation by buses or by taxis to have access to other areas is a waste of time which could be better spent in the classroom. Three classrooms are currently used at William McDonald School, but students don't want to go into that school as the culture and climate is very, very different. School enrolment at the primary level continues to grow, but the school is losing students in its high school program, which is in crisis. In 2015-16, nine of the 42 students left for other Yellowknife high schools. This is a vicious circle. At Ecole Allain St-Cyr students are...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to move on. It's my understanding the GNWT may still hold the surface lease for the Cantung Mine. Can the Minister confirm that?