Mahsi, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I will do is I'll make a commitment to have a confidential update to committee and then we, as collectively [Audio Unavailable] a conversation moving forward what we will be doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. While I appreciate the opportunity to get a technical update but I'm going to be asking the Minister questions before the end of this sitting on this matter because the public deserves to know whether the provincial government is going to allow us to sit on this committee or not. So that's a heads up to the Minister that I'm going to be asking for answers in public about this.

I want to move on, though, to a couple of other areas here if I can, Mr. Chair.

I believe this is the part of the ENR budget where inspections for water licenses are conducted, and if I've got that wrong maybe the Minister can let me know. But how have we done with frequency of inspections, particularly of the diamond mines for the water licenses, during the COVID pandemic? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you. My understanding is we're still doing our inspections but for further detail and making sure I understand it correctly, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Deputy minister.

Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.

[Audio Unavailable]

Minister.

Yeah, so as the Minister for Lands, I can verify that we do have our lands officers going in doing the inspections presently. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Minister for that. I'll probably have some more questions when we get to the Department of Lands on this on the exact frequency so that's more of a heads up, but that's all I got on water today. And I want to thank the Minister and his staff and yourself.

Mahsi. Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my understanding that EIA is currently leading some work to lobby the feds to amend the MVRMA or possibly devolve the MVRMA and pending the outcome of those negotiations, that would then allow ENR to resume work on the Waters Act and Environmental Protection Act. Can I just clarify if that is the case, that we have to wait for that MVRMA work to be done before any further work on waters or environmental protection? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Johnson. Minister.

I really hate giving these -- this answer to the Member but, yes, you are correct.

Mahsi. Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize that MVRMA is both federal legislation and led by EIA but I'm just -- I think we are long overdue for a regulatory system overhaul and a big part of that is waters and EPA and obviously MVRMA. But does the Minister have any update on when the MVRMA work will be complete so we could then continue to finish the EPA and waters work? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Johnson. Minister.

Thanks. I can't speak for another department but I can tell you from our side of things -- well, I can't tell you. I'll ask the deputy minister to update you on where we are. I don't think the Member wants me to say "soon". So I will turn to the deputy minister with your permission. Thank you.

Deputy minister.

Mahsi. Mr. Johnson.