Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources in follow-up on my Member’s statement on the 21st of February and some questions then.

I believe it was two weeks ago today that I described the stalled effort to create an independent oversight body to watchdog the Giant Mine Remediation Project. I pointed out there were six drafts of an oversight discussion paper and eight drafts of an environmental agreement. The work is dead in the water and the working group hasn’t met since August.

On February 21st the Minister committed to direct his department...

I will await the Minister getting in gear. Since the close of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review public hearings, the board has taken the uncommon step of opening up the public record again with the request to the developers – that’s us – for further information on the plan to dump toxic waters into Back Bay. Apparently the board is determined that the project proposal contains insufficient information to make wise decisions on this dilution of pollution solution.

Can the Minister update us on our activities to provide this solution and whether we will push to have this project...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, have serious concerns about the wisdom of building the Inuvik-Tuk highway. The project doesn’t make economic sense. The only thorough analysis we’ve had was prepared in 2010 for a project costing $230 million. Twenty-eight months and $12 million later, it’s $311 million. That 2010 analysis revealed little if any net economic benefit, notably with reductions in oil and gas economic activity of thousands of person years of employment and significant reductions to GDP due to efficiencies.

Today with ice-free shipping seasons and marine transport, pipelines are off...

Thanks for that clarification. I certainly do support the Stabilization Fund and would support it being bumped up if possible. So I’ll leave it that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just to complete the picture for me, and ongoing for how many years? Thank you.

I appreciate getting the full range. I have a good series of yesses going here. How about a plebiscite? Our Elections and Plebiscites Act says that, on the recommendation of the Assembly, the Commissioner can order a plebiscite take place, but that recommendation must come from this House. Will the Premier commit to supporting a plebiscite that will allow meaningful public participation and debate, and a sense of ownership in this historic agreement before signing the final Devolution Agreement?

That gets me in the ballpark and I think I’ll leave it at that. I’m sure we’ll be having lots more discussions on that.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate those comments. I know the Minister has concerns in this area and we’ll be going after things. He listed quite a number of initiatives that we hope to do. All of them have costs to them. I guess I’m disappointed that here we have $6 million that we are reducing in subsidies and no attempt to increase our efforts in the direction that the Minister has indicated. I will leave it at that, Mr. Chair. That’s all I had on this page. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I guess I will leave it at that. I will maybe ask the Premier to bring his plan forward for committee to comment on. I guess I wish I had the confidence he had. I know we have lots of experience at this and, on that basis, I know we know how costly it is. I do want to acknowledge that Aboriginal governments have been very much involved, and I appreciate the opportunity for them to be at the table and keep their people updated. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for 50 percent of the people in the Northwest Territories, so somebody needs to speak for those people. Thank you.

Thank you, and just the second part of that was how many years we will be paying that amount. Thank you.