I'm going to move on to the other component of my statement, which is that it is my understanding, after reviewing the public accounts, that in fact the government did not meet its own requirements in its Fiscal Responsibility Policy, meaning that it didn't raise enough of a surplus to meet its spending criteria. When that happens, which is what happened in 2014-15, what are the consequences? I guess the government has to borrow more money, but what are the consequences if the government fails to meet its own requirements of its Fiscal Responsibility Policy?

I would have to sit down and have a conversation with the Member and try to explain how this works. You know, the cash that's generated from our operations in 2014-15 was about $175 million, as was reported in the public documents. We were able to generate this level of cash from our operations because of the $95 million surplus achieved in 2014-15, which included about $80 million for non-cash items like amortization expense and all the GNWT needs to account for. Again, as I said before, it is a very difficult document to read without properly understanding it, and I would be glad to sit down with the Member and we can go over the document together.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that offer. On that same page that the Minister is quoting from it says that the cash used for capital transactions was $236 million, in round numbers, and so the math just doesn't add up; even I can appreciate that. I guess I'm back to my original question of what the consequences are when the government has not abided by its own fiscal policy? Thank you.

I'm not sure what the consequences are, maybe there's an empty seat here, I don't know. I will have a conversation with my officials, I'm sure we've met the requirements to the Fiscal Responsibility Policy, because I'm sure if we hadn't then we'd be called onto the carpet for that, but I will confirm that and I will have a conversation with my officials.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, I spoke about the divergence in views between the federal and our territorial governments regarding participant funding for environmental assessment in the Northwest Territories as found in the 2015 Environmental Audit. This issue's been around for over 20 years and it's time to solve this problem. Can the Minister of Lands tell this House whether the issue of participant funding was raised during the devolution negotiations, who raised it, and what the response was? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding was that funding was not addressed in any detail during the devolution negotiations as legislative responsibility for the MVRMA or its boards remain with the Government of Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm a bit disappointed to hear that GNWT didn't use the devolution negotiations as an opportunity, we're always on about capturing opportunities, to try to resolve this situation when we had some leverage. I spoke earlier this week about the recently announced federal review of environmental assessment processes, the federal government wants to rebuild public confidence in resource decisions; I think that's a good thing. Although the North was left out of this process, we should perhaps capture that opportunity to push the federal government to treat us the same as other Canadians. Will the Minister commit to writing the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change and ask that the issue of participant funding be considered in the context of a review of environmental assessment processes?

GNWT Ministers are going to be meeting with the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change next month, and I can assure the Member that this issue will be raised at that time.

I appreciate the commitment from the Minister and I look forward to hearing back from him about his discussions with the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change. I mentioned how residents of Northwest Territories along with residents of Yukon and Nunavut do not have access to participant funding for federal environmental assessment except in very limited circumstances, and these are usually at the discretion of Ottawa. Truly, we're treated as second-class citizens in this country. Can the Minister of Lands tell this House whether he would be willing to work with our northern neighbours to attempt to resolve this injustice of no participant funding for Northerners?

We're not interested in being second-class citizens in our own land anymore, and I will commit to having conversations with my counterpart in our sister territories and see how we can work as a unit to try and address this issue.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the commitment by the Minister to work with our neighbours in Yukon and Nunavut. I've been on record talking about the need to build confidence in our resource management decisions and that people have to have the ability to participate in these processes. Larger projects often involve technical expertise in their evidence-based processes to help level the playing field and ensure we retain the benefits of resource development. Participant funding is essential. I understand the Minister is prepared to work with our northern neighbours, but would he be prepared to look at signing perhaps even a joint letter with our neighbours in Yukon and Nunavut to push this issue with or federal government? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

We as well would like our public to have confidence in our ability to deal with any type of development in the land that we look after. I will have conversations with my counterparts. We have a meeting coming up with the federal Minister. We can raise the issue at the time and see what the feedback is from the federal government, and we'll use that as a go-forward basis. If we have to partner up with our neighbours, then we will do that. Again, as I said, we do want the public to have confidence in our ability to deal with any issues concerning the land.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm just going to carry on with the points that I was making earlier. The Fiscal Responsibility Policy says that there was a requirement for financing infrastructure with 50 per cent of the operating surplus. In the public accounts which we examined for the fiscal year 2014-2015, their operating surplus was in round numbers, $95 million, and the infrastructure expense was in round numbers, $236 million. Using those numbers, it's clear in fact that the infrastructure was not funded 50 per cent from operating surpluses, but many millions less. The point of this is: what are the consequences if the Fiscal Responsibility Policy is not followed? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to take that question as notice.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the NWTAC 50thAnnual General Meeting, the staff of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources did a presentation and a question and answer session. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise the House if they are encountering any challenges in implanting the GNWT’s Electronics Recycling Program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We rolled this program out earlier this year and to date, we haven’t had any issues with the recycling program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.