Agreed. Thank you, Premier McLeod. I will ask Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses to the table.

For the record, could you please introduce your witnesses?

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right I have Kelly McLaughlin, director of legislation for the Department of Justice; to my left I have Jamie Fulford, legal counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Madam Chair.

As I was saying, yesterday when we left off we were on

general comments. The next person I had on the list was Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to welcome the Premier and devolution team here again today under the review of Bill 10.

Madam Chair, from what I understand, when bills are reviewed or legislation is reviewed both nationally or territorially or provincially, we look at things such as the imperial system that is used to describe certain things, whether it’s units of measure, units of land. This may be more of a small, technical nature, but I thought this was something possibly not picked up when we did the mirror legislation.

In Section 9, it talks about the disposition of Territorial lands and it uses the term “acres,” 160 acres, to be specific, in 9.(1), and in 9.(3), 6,400 acres.

The unit of measure in metric terms is hectares. Is that a miss or is that something we will expect with all legislation? Did the conversion go from imperial to the metric in this mirror legislation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Ms. McLaughlin.

Thank you, Ms. McLaughlin. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you.

Next I have Ms. Bisaro. General comments?

Okay. Thank you. Colleagues, some of the devolution bills before Committee of the Whole today contain well over 100 clauses. Would committee agree to consider clauses in blocks of 10? We would still be able to pose questions on any clause or clauses within the block of 10. We would like to make better use of our limited time available to us. Is committee agreed?

Agreed. Thank you. Clauses 1 to 10.

---Clauses 1 through 10 inclusive approved

Clauses 11 to 20.

---Clauses 11 through 20 inclusive approved

Clauses 21 to 30.

---Clauses 21 through 30 inclusive approved

Clauses 31 to 40.

---Clauses 31 through 40 inclusive approved

Clauses 41 to 50.

---Clauses 41 through 50 inclusive approved

Clauses 51 to 58.

---Clauses 51 through 58 inclusive approved

Thank you. To the bill as a whole.

Does committee agree that Bill 10 is ready for third reading?

---Bill 10 as a whole approved for third reading

Thank you, Premier McLeod. Thank you, Ms. McLaughlin and Mr. Fulford. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. Thank you very much.

I’d like to ask Premier McLeod if he’d like to proceed with his opening remarks on Bill 11, Petroleum Resources Act. Premier McLeod.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to Bill 11, the Petroleum Resources Act. The passage of this legislation will be another step towards implementing the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment will administer the Government of the Northwest Territories’ new authorities under the Petroleum Resources Act.

Under the Devolution Agreement, the GNWT is obligated to substantially mirror Canada’s statues and regulations that are being repealed or made inapplicable to lands transferring to the GNWT through devolution.

The mirroring exercise means that the new GNWT laws will address the same matters, in substantially the same way, as federal laws do now. Mirroring principles limited changes to addressing issues such as outdated language and applying GNWT drafting standards.

Mirrored legislation is a practical first step to ensure a continued delivery of services on April 1, 2014. Mirrored legislation also ensures that there are no

legislative gaps or overlaps between GNWT and federal legislation.

The parties to the Devolution Agreement entered into a Protocol for Review of Devolution Legislation. Under this protocol, all parties had the opportunity to review and comment on this legislation before it was introduced in the Legislative Assembly. We have considered these comments carefully in the preparation of the bill before you.

The Petroleum Resources Act will govern the leasing of GNWT-owned oil and gas rights to companies that wish to find and produce the oil and gas. This includes all GNWT-owned oil and gas rights in the onshore of the NWT, right up to the onshore/offshore boundary negotiated by Canada and the GNWT. It does not include lands that will be retained by the federal government such as waste sites and the Norman Wells Proven Area.

Rights leased to a company under the Petroleum Resources Act will give the company the right to explore and, if successful, to produce oil and gas owned by the GNWT on behalf of the residents of the NWT.

Under the Petroleum Resources Act, oil and gas rights in unexplored areas will be issued after a public call for bids. The Minister may attach conditions to the transfer of rights including conditions for protecting the environment.

The Petroleum Resources Act will also establish an Environmental Studies Research Fund to pay for environmental and social studies necessary to inform decisions on whether oil and gas exploration or development should be carried out in a particular area. Oil and gas companies exploring in the NWT must make payments into this fund.

The proposed Petroleum Resources Act and Oil and Gas Operations Act each state that no work or activity on petroleum lands shall be authorized until the Minister has approved or waived the requirement of approval of a benefits plan.

Finally, the Petroleum Resources Act will allow the GNWT to prescribe the royalties that companies must pay to the GNWT once commercial production is achieved.

I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier McLeod. I’d like to ask the Premier if he would like to bring witnesses into the Chamber. Premier McLeod.