Weledeh

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the department being here today. We had a pretty good start to general comments and I appreciated the discussion yesterday and many of the points that I had were ticked off there. That is, addressed one by one.

There was a lot of discussion on vacancy rates and recruitment. One thing I didn’t hear about was turnover rates. We’re winning these awards as the best darn employer around, which I appreciate and I want to reiterate my earlier congratulations to the Minister and his staff, but if it’s just, you know, we pay really well and we help with expenses and...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 11)

Thanks again for the Minister’s response. I know he’d like me to answer the questions that I’m asking here, but I think that’s his job and obviously he has the resources. I’m happy to come up with my own suggestion, but he’s got a lot of professionals working for him, so I think those are the people we want to engage.

Does the Minister agree that regulatory legislative sorts of actions can be quite cost-effective – they don’t cost millions of dollars – and are a toolbox that we should be looking at to get the objectives achieved that we know we need to achieve? Mahsi.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just want to follow up from my earlier questions with the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I understand there is a report coming out on the cost-effectiveness of our respective program for greenhouse gas reductions. The Minister has obviously got the results as a result of the analysis he did in response to my questions.

What sort of contemplations are in place, are happening towards now responding to that information we have so that we can increase our cost-effectiveness on the basis of these analyses? Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 11)

I don’t know whether it’s in your purview to direct a Minister to answer a question, but that certainly did not answer the question.

The Diavik Diamond Mine has done some great work in reducing their emissions by installing wind turbines up at their mine site and they deserve full credit for this. Yet, in his response, the Minister claims the emission reductions from the Diavik wind program go to GNWT.

Did the Minister get permission from Diavik to claim credits – and these are very valuable credits – for their actions? Mahsi.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Before Christmas I asked the Minister of Environment a written question on the cost-effectiveness of the various initiatives his department is funding as part of the Greenhouse Gas Strategy. At the time, I got the impression that the Minister was surprised by the question, which was not my intent. So I wanted to check, was the Minister surprised to be asked about the cost-effectiveness of his department’s greenhouse gas reduction initiatives? Mahsi.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 10)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, I attended the only northern public hearing on Bill C-15 here in Yellowknife. Bill C-15 implements our devolution deal with Canada, but it also includes big changes to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. All our Aboriginal government partners and public interest groups said the same thing, “The changes to the MVRMA have nothing to do with devolution so remove them from this bill.” They also said, “Do not collapse the regional land and water boards into one super-board.” But not our Premier, who seemingly accepts losing our voice as an acceptable cost...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 10)

Thanks to the Premier. Our Aboriginal partners are talking about a court challenge to Bill C-15. Clearly, we’re not being effective if that’s the case. So, devolution is one thing and, again, what we’re talking about here are amendments to the MVRMA which the federal government has included in Bill C-15. I’m sure the Premier agrees that this will bring uncertainty to the future of devolution, this legal action in the courts itself, as well to future mineral extraction applications.

Is there anything we, with our newly developed authority, can do to alleviate the concerns of our regional...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 10)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions to the Premier today. I would like to start by noting that Bill C-15 is making its way through Parliament in Ottawa. Our Member of Parliament is working hard, but without our support he is having a hard time convincing the federal government to separate the changes to the MVRMA from the devolution part of the bill.

I’m sure the Premier has had some time to think about this. What steps does he propose that he could take to limit the damage that will be done by forcing the closure of the regional boards...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 10)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier again. I don’t question the right of the federal government to do their legislation, but our Aboriginal partners, the mass are speaking against this. So what I’m talking about here is mitigating the impacts of this. It’s going to happen. The Devolution Agreement commits us to stick with the MVRMA for at least five years, but the current federal government only has a mandate until 2015.

Will the Premier show some leadership and begin working with our partners on a strategy for re-establishing regional boards when a new federal government is in place...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 5th Session (day 10)

Thanks to the Premier. The Premier has done a very good job of getting our Aboriginal groups to the table with devolution but, of course, that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about amendments to the MVRMA and they’re speaking with one voice and the Premier has been silent on this.

Again, I mentioned the idea of meeting with our Aboriginal partners to discuss what can be done on this specific issue to get that regional voice in there, which has been silenced and not supported by our Premier so far.

Has the Premier had any discussions with our Aboriginal partners on how we can...