Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government has chosen to pursue a focus on helping people lift themselves out of poverty. Unfortunately, the welfare-based system we now have in place has proven unsuccessful. It is complex, intrusive and inefficient and administration is too costly. Not enough dollars are getting through to the people who need them. Instead they are chewed up by an increasingly expensive bureaucracy. Positive outcomes are few and far between and the cycle of poverty deepens.

Economists of all political stripes, both right and left, agree that a better and more effective tool is the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 4, 2015, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that the government immediately establish a moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing activity for at least two years, or until the completion of a comprehensive, transparent and public review of the cumulative environmental, social and economic risks and benefits of the process.

Does the Minister of the department and the public support the permanent toxification or pollution of billions of litres of fresh water annually taken from our surface water in the NWT, polluted and stored forever, hopefully, safely underground? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Mr. Ramsay, Minister Ramsay of ITI.

I would like to first ask if the Minister’s department agrees with the science on climate change. Mahsi.

I would just remind the Minister that the NWT has been blanketed with motions and resolutions from every Aboriginal government across the Nahendeh part of the NWT, requesting just that, a moratorium, a ban, or a comprehensive review.

As I was saying, the science is clear. The oil under the ground in the NWT must stay there, according to science, if human civilization is to continue as we know it. Renewable energy options are environmentally and economically attractive, virtually limitless and promise provision of more clean and affordable energy than we need.

Will the Minister commit to removing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to follow up my Member’s statement with questions for the Minister of ITI.

If it was not apparent to the Minister before today that there is a significant public concern surrounding fracking in the NWT, it should be clear now, and the public wants input on the question of whether to fracture or not, and that the drafting of fracking regulations is premature. It puts the cart before the horse.

Will the Minister now declare a moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the Northwest Territories until a comprehensive public review of the practice is...

Abandoning already stranded fossil fuels and quickly positioning ourselves to take advantage of renewable opportunities is the obvious and compulsory answer. We have the chance to be there to meet the renewable energy puck and slap it into the net. Will we hear the crowd roar? We can if we so choose on behalf of our people and our land. I certainly hope we do. Mahsi.

Just a quick follow-up there. How long is this monitoring supposed to go on? Is this sort of an interim report, I gather, from what I’ve heard so far, and when will we see the final results on the testing of these new road construction techniques to protect permafrost? Thank you.

Thank you for that. Just on the Inuvik one, I thought we had repaired that last summer. Did it reopen up in the same area, or is this another area of the airstrip? Is this directly related to the first one? Does it make it a larger issue? I just have to get some context on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I did want to follow up there. So, the $3 million is for the Yellowknife Airport and the $1.6 million for Inuvik Airport runway repair are both carried over, so these are issues that have been ongoing. Can I just find out if these are loss of permafrost-type things that are going on?