Bob Bromley

Of course, much of what I was saying here was picked up by the Minister himself during the 16th Assembly when I really agreed with him on this. I wonder what the situation… I don’t hear these sorts of kerfuffles in Botswana or Norway. The process seems to be straightforward, the benefits to the public who own the resource are very straightforward, the standards are clear and are met and, in fact, are standards held up globally. We don’t hear about the sorts of things that we hear right here in the Northwest Territories, where we’re left holding the bag and our people have been removed from...

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very quickly, would the Minister know off hand what amount was not transferred to ITI that was gained as interest? Thank you.

Thanks for the Minister’s comments there. I don’t think they’re very accurate, obviously. I guess I would like to ask the Minister, what has been the greenhouse gas reductions net reductions in these industry emissions in the Northwest Territories for whatever time frame he cares to talk about. I’m very happy to see Diavik taking a leadership role on their own, and I think they’re talking about 4 to 6 percent of their energy being from wind compared to zero from renewable energy. That’s significant. The opportunity, as the Minister said, is there in a way that saves money. It’s not being taken...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I want to salute the City of Yellowknife and Ecology North as the co-winners of the 2013 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Award in the waste category. The award recognizes the impressive achievement of piloting and then implementing the first phase of an organic waste composting project.

From 2009 to 2012, the city partnered with Ecology North on a centralizing composting pilot project to learn about and test the process and to evaluate the feasibility of a full-scale operation. The three-year project looked to composting in cold...

What of those dollars are going to land use planning?

I guess there’s the obvious concern that this government is pushing very hard on development of resource extraction and we’re doing this in the absence of these land use plans. Obviously we need to take a cautious approach in the absence of these plans. How is the weight being given to that cautious approach, just as in managing wildlife?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just some quick follow-ups there. I know the Protected Areas Strategy is going through a number of five-year plans. I think the average to actually get a nominated area protected, should it be protected eventually, is in the area of 12 to 15 years. What is the general status of the Protected Areas Strategy? Where are we at? Perhaps that’s a question being asked in the reviews that are going on, but perhaps I could just pose it as what have we achieved of what we set out to achieve, and when can we expect to see the results of the reviews, and what input will committee...

Thanks for that comment. I hope the Minister does use the fastest way to get that information out there. These days it’s possible.

My last question has to do with bison, Mr. Chair. I know we’ve gone through, again, some serious kafuffles with the bison herd, the Mackenzie Bison herd. I know at one point we had opened harvest up to those with Aboriginal and treaty rights to shoot cows and calves and whatever they wanted along the road and so on, or even off the road, shortly before we had the anthrax issue and now we’ve got a decimated herd. I don’t believe there were any extraordinary harvest...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for the Minister’s comments. I hope that the boards are aware of the science that’s available on what is harvestable for the caribou in a conservative way, and that their decisions are based on that best information and, in fact, that they can be encouraged to make timely decisions when the evidence is clear.

I would like to ask a question with regard to the Wildlife Act. I know we’re still working at it and I’m hoping that it gets tabled soon. I do appreciate the Minister’s support. I believe he formed a committee he’s calling SWAAG, I believe it’s the Stakeholders...