Merci, Monsieur le President. In June 2021 I tabled redacted summaries of the secret meetings of the GNWT-Chamber of Mines COVID Recovery Working Group. I tabled another set of summaries earlier this sitting as well and they contained about 80 additional disclosures from the department as a result of a new review conducted under our more permissive amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
As I said before, what was supposed to be a working group focused on economic recovery from the impacts of the COVID pandemic has transitioned into a high-level lobbying campaign. This is not about whether mining is good or criticism of the Chamber of Mines; this is about the appropriateness of these meetings held behind closed doors.
In June, I outlined several options for the Minister to bring some transparency and accountability to these secret meetings which does not appear to have been adopted in any way, so I will repeat them again here.
Now that this information about these meetings has been made public, the Minister has several options, as I see it.
- The Minister could stop these meetings now that the pandemic is almost over;.
- Confine these meetings to their original and stated purpose of economic recovery rather than the current lobbying campaign that appears to have no limits;
- Allow other interested parties to observe and/or participate;
- Make complete summaries of these meetings public;
- Allow other economic sectors and non-governmental organizations the same opportunity for consultation and lobbying; and/or,
- Bring in lobbyist legislation so there is proper disclosure guidance for lobbying.
I will have questions later today for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment on the GNWT-Chamber of Mines COVID Recovery Working Group. Merci, Mr. Speaker.