Bob Bromley

Thank you. Clearly, the Minister is breaching through smoke and mirrors now. The NWT Environmental Rights Act is clear. The Minister is obliged to investigate the environmental rights of our citizens in our own legislation for the Northwest Territories people. We all know that in spite of talk of best practices, things don’t always go according to plan. When something does happen, how will he explain to NWT taxpayers that they are on the hook for a polluted lake and that he refused to even investigate when he had a legal obligation to do so? Hopefully it’s as small a concern as that. Mahsi.

Thank you. Great to hear the Minister was listening. Section 2.(3) of the NWT Environmental Rights Act states: “Where there is a conflict between the terms of this act and the terms of any other enactment, this act shall prevail to the extent of the conflict.” The approvals given under the MVRMA do not demonstrate that the release of the unknown chemicals into the environment is safe.

Is it not clear to the Minister that there is a conflict here and the environmental rights of NWT citizens should prevail? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to recognize constituent Ms. Sarah Erasmus, co-owner of Erasmus Apparel, in recognition of her receipt of the Economic Developer of the Year Award during the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers Annual General Meeting in Winnipeg last week.

Ms. Erasmus was nominated for the award and selected by the board as one of two candidates from nominees across the country. While actually attending the AGM to speak at the youth panel there, she learned of the board’s selection. Sarah’s presentation at the AGM sealed the deal and she won the award...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very briefly, the public drunkenness, open liquor and underage drinking that has been mentioned as the focus of this effort is something that does need to be addressed and represents, really, a huge part, a huge bolus of the instances that our RCMP are forced to deal with, despite many other competing priorities. There typically are other resources that could be put to work to help in this regard.

I’d like to thank my colleague Mr. Dolynny, Mr. Mover, for bringing this forward and I will be supporting it. I also appreciate the recognition of the possible need for some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Shale oil development in the Bakken area has placed immediate and unrelenting strain on all types of infrastructure. Transportation infrastructure is a primary concern. There are currently 9,322 producing wells in North Dakota, and the state expects that an additional 2,000 will be drilled this year. The average drilling rig requires at least 2,000 truckloads of materials and supplies, which has an equivalent impact of 25,000 light vehicles on roadways. A single loaded truck raises approximately 100 pounds of dust per mile on gravel roads, coating vegetation and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Social Envelope Committee of Cabinet, the Honourable Glen Abernethy.

What is the current annual cost to administer each of the 16 income assistance and other income security programs mentioned in point 2 on page 5 of the recent Auditor General’s Income Security Program Review? For the purposes of this question, “cost to administer” is defined as GNWT salaries, overhead for office space, travel, per diems and other program delivery-related expenses.

What are the current total annual payments made to clients under each...

I’m sure we’ll see in the Hansard tomorrow exactly what the words were, but I think they were very plain. The Minister said I have rejected some, I have accepted some, and so on.

Could the Minister tell us what exactly has he done here? Has he suggested that he has accepted, rejected and proposed to modify some to the federal Minister, and where is the clarity on this conflict of interest situation?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in follow-up to my colleague Ms. Bisaro’s questions with respect to the Giant Mine. I’d like to ask the Minister of the Environment, I know he’s aware that there’s a potential conflict of interest here with the proponent, the double role that the government is playing in this case being that there is no mining company and we are both the proponent and the regulator. Now the federal government has developed a firewall to try and keep the processes separate between the regulatory side and the proponent side.

Do we have such a firewall between the two...

As we pour money down this black hole, which we know will drain our coffers for decades to come, we are hearing rumours that the gravel being laid is sinking into the tundra. Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister not telling us about this albatross?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Transportation today. Once again we find this government buying a pig in a poke. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars of our citizens’ precious infrastructure dollars in a black hole project whose costs we do not even know. Having authorized $70 million for ‘14-15 for the Inuvik-Tuk highway, we are now an incredible $160 million into this project, and we do not even have a firm estimate of the cost. We are just saying it’s capped at $300 million so we are going to shoehorn it into this estimate. How can this be? Mahsi.