This Minister is out to lunch. The expert panel was an industry panel. There have been two mines approved in the last few months. There’s a list of mines that are on the docket to be approved. The biggest subsidy of all may be the pre-cleanup service that we offer when mines close. Past experiences at Faro, Giant, Colomac, Ptarmigan and Tom Mines should teach us that. All are costing more to clean up than either we or the federal government get back ever in revenues.

Under devolution we will assume full responsibility for cleanup costs on new mines. Given the clear and unaddressed inadequacies already detailed, how does the Minister propose that we ensure a net public benefit, a benefit – think of it – from new mines and not a cleanup liability?