Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting this motion and I appreciate the mover and seconder for bringing this motion forward.

A massive amount of work has been done for a long period of time and is represented and boiled down in this report. The report says, “We have concluded, as a review board, that there are major significant impacts from this project.” They further concluded, not surprisingly, that there are major and significant public concerns, and they have, I would say, done a pretty good job of recommending measures to address those significant concerns and impacts.

What we have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really do appreciate that the people of the Sahtu and the people of the Northwest Territories need to be better informed about fracking. We need to consider the economic, social and environmental benefits very carefully.

When will the people of the Sahtu and NWT have an opportunity to hear about the social and environmental impacts and make informed decisions about what is best for their communities? Will the Minister sponsor a public forum on fracking that will include balanced information on both the positive and negative potential impacts? Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. The Indian Resource Council, of course, is a group that represents oil-producing First Nations. It is not likely that we will get a balanced view from them either. I know that ConocoPhillips is a partner in presenting these workshops, according to the Minister’s information.

Fracking will have wide-ranging impacts in the Northwest Territories, but I totally agree that it is important for the people of the Sahtu to learn more about what is being planned for their region. It is their land and communities that will be most affected, but in looking at the...

Though one-sided, many people spoke candidly, saying look out, there is a freight train barrelling down on us. They have been overwhelmed with the demands of fracking put on local infrastructure and they said you must get prepared ahead of time. This means hundreds of millions of dollars for the installation of pipelines for oil, for gas, to supply fresh water and to take away the dirty water, a permanent network of roads, housing for big influxes of workers, and so on.

I am doing a little mini-series on fracking, so I will be continuing on this subject. As I said, we learned a lot and I will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I side with my colleague Ms. Bisaro in this discussion. As the Speaker knows, our Members’ conduct also says we will promote the equality of all our people, distribute resources fairly and justly, and to the public I owe the responsibility to work for the well-being of all residents of the Northwest Territories.

The Member has inferred that resources are unfairly distributed and that Yellowknife has over-benefitted. Now, he presented no data to back that up. There have been some summaries done, and I am willing to state that, in fact, on a per capita basis, there...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think this is a good discussion. I would like to see more of this sort of discussion so we can… This has been something that has been bubbling along for a while, but meanwhile the Yellowknife Campus has been festering with overuse. I appreciate Mr. Moses bringing this to the table. I do agree with his point that we need to come up with a good vision of the role for each of the campuses. I think I have detected really good support. I personally very much support first-class facilities in our other campuses outside Yellowknife. We have put them in place there even to...

Thanks for that. I’d appreciate maybe a commitment to get some information on what their plans are. Part of our problems in Weledeh is the community schools and the gymnasiums or recreational centres have been fulfilling the role of school gymnasiums and yet nobody is taking ownership of them. Sometimes they were built by the federal government, sometimes by GNWT, and both governments have shrugged and said okay, they’re your responsibility now, without providing sufficient funds to maintain or replace. So I wouldn’t mind an update on what the plans are now.

For K’alemi Dene, I believe we’re on...

Again, I didn’t hear when this is going to happen. Perhaps the Minister can give some information on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome to the Minister and guests, witnesses here. I guess I just wanted to throw out general comments here because I’m very concerned about the paucity of projects and especially meaningful work and progress on many of the major issues we have on education infrastructure.

Less than 2 percent of our capital budget this year is dedicated to this department, our second largest department and probably one of the very highest priorities we have as a government in an area where we’re not shining, and we know we need to do what we can both in terms of how we do things and the...

The committee heard that the act should establish an appeal process for individuals who are denied permission to trap game, particularly in unsettled claim areas. Bill 3 provides for applicants to receive written explanation for the refusal of an application for a hunting licence. The committee proposed an amendment that would add a requirement for written reasons for refusal to issue or recommend the issuance of a special harvester licence. The committee further proposed a motion to allow an individual to appeal refusals to issue any licence, permit or other authorization, including the...