Bob Bromley

Mr. Chair, I realize these special warrants are partly catch-up and partly projection, so you can end up with a surplus despite the bigger budget, so $18 million and $21 million and these are well above the set amounts for the annual budget. I am just wondering: Is there a trend in what’s happening with our fire seasons? Are we aware of any trends with our neighbouring jurisdictions, Alaska, Yukon, or our northern provinces? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are based on learning that in North Dakota, workers pay income taxes to the state of North Dakota regardless of where they reside. I’d like to direct my questions to the Minister of Finance exploring our situation. Early in the previous Assembly, we learned that we were losing about $300 million per year to high salary workers flying in to work in the NWT mines from other provinces.

Would the Minister have any update on how much this figure is currently for mine workers and what additional we are losing now for oil and gas workers?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have three documents to table. The first one is entitled Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. It’s a brief compilation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent report.

The second one is entitled More Bad News for Fracking: IPCC Warns Methane Traps Much More Heat Than We Thought.

The third one is the CBC interviews of Sahtu residents about the fracking education workshops that was aired this morning, titled Questions About Fracking in the Sahtu, CBC Special Report, Thursday, October 24, 2013, 7:40 a.m. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister for that very long diatribe on something, but I assume that he understands when we burn fossil fuels, they release emissions, but if we leave the fossil fuels in the ground, they won’t release those emissions.

The Minister reported yesterday that he judged fracking developments in the Sahtu can be done sustainably, including environmentally so.

Could the Minister please provide the government’s estimate for the quantity of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses that will be released as a result of extracting and burning the oil and gas that is stored in the Sahtu shale oil...

Thanks again to the Minister. My last question on this, really, is: Are there any implications in terms of fees for users of the park, and if there are, will they be different than what’s currently in place? In relation to that, is there any consideration for people who actually live in the park?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I will table the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers” from their fifth assessment of the physical science basis for climate change. I’d like to ask the Minister of Environment, would the Minister please confirm that this government accepts the latest report from the IPCC and that this government understands that “continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and that limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions on of greenhouse gas emissions” very soon...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had a quick question. I’m pleased to see the work going ahead on Prelude Lake Park. It’s an area that is looking a little rough, like it’s been rode pretty hard. But I’m wondering: There’s a big issue on parking, and I know the Minister has heard about this sort of thing. The residents and the region, the visitors, and even the residents of the park itself are not able to use it because there are people that have cabins out on the lake and as often as not they’re squatters’ cabins that are using the facility, the parking spaces for long-term parking and stuff. Will...

Besides environmental sustainability, such an approach would restore earth systems, ensure diversity and self-sufficiency of community economies, support our cultures, and yield distributed benefits across all of our residents. Let’s take charge of this parade and make it happen.

I will have questions for the Minister of Environment. Mahsi.

I just want to throw out, too, my concerns on Stanton. I’m not quite as easygoing as Ms. Bisaro. A few years from now to start, you know, this is long overdue. It’s another one that’s been on the books for me now for seven years and I think we are starting to move forward rather than backwards as we did for a good part of those seven years, but now we’ve been planning for a number of years. The very modest amount in this year’s budget is pretty insignificant to the cost that we’re talking about for the Stanton Territorial.

So I’m expecting to see a substantive proposal for funding brought...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t see any item for the Avens facility. I thought we were going to support some kind of planning study for that infrastructure. Could I maybe get an update on where we’re at on that? Thank you.