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Statements in Debates

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 13)

I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have before us consideration of Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act and I would like to start by calling on Mr. Ramsay, as a Member of the Board of Management, for his introduction of the bill with opening remarks. Mr. Ramsay.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 13)

Does committee agree?

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again for that commitment. I think it would be good and I’m speaking, really, here, of the development of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy to have a specific timeline laid out for this process. I know public consultation is difficult, especially on an issue like this. It’s important to everyone. So I think that would be helpful and highlighting where and how MLAs could have early input into the process and so on. So I think that would be useful. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 13)

Appreciation to the Minister for those comments. Obviously he’s been thinking about this. How does the Minister see this unfolding so that the public is aware of what’s going on and the process for consultation? Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, and Tabled Document 4-16(5), Executive Summary of the Report of the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project, and would like to report that Bill 7 is ready for third reading. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think there’s any question that we’ll be collecting those. We’ve already had people down at the big…or the Juno awards or the Oscar awards, filmmakers down there from Yellowknife. We’re well on our way, and with the Minister’s support I have no doubt we’ll achieve that.

ITI’s annual publication -- my last question -- the economic review does not contain, currently, information on the value and activity of the arts and culture industry such as film and media production. I’d like to conclude here by asking the Minister if he will take steps to begin to collect the...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 12)

Mr. Chairman, perhaps we can get commitment to see the results of that research on Highway No. 3. I believe that was climate related and the things like things that are diverging quite a bit from what I was initially told on the research direction of these research dollars. Perhaps we can mostly get a briefing at some point on what we are doing there in terms of climate change related research relative to the initial commitment of one or two million dollars for that research. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 12)

I’d like to move on to our second item. The $1 million to fund aquatics ecosystems research with Wilfred Laurier University, obviously it’s not very often that we do this sort of thing. I’m wondering if the Minister could give us a little background on what we’re getting for this substantial investment. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table two documents today. First of all, a copy of the advertisement of the Mackenzie Gas Project “A Secure Energy Source,” placed by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment in the May 2010 issue of Up Here Business magazine.

The second is the transcript of the presentation of the Government of the Northwest Territories to the National Energy Board hearings in Inuvik, April 20th and 21st, 2010, transcript paragraphs 18110 to 18636, presentation by GNWT counsel C.W. Sanderson.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 12)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The social and environmental measures outlined in the report, even with the modifications government propose, will cost this government, our government, us, huge sums. I have seen no estimate of these sums and I will be asking Cabinet to report on the work underway to assess the total cost of the huge new responsibilities and demands this project would create. I should say I will re-ask. I’ve asked before and gotten no response.

Of course, there is the option that Cabinet could simply say that it cannot agree with the recommendations because it would cost too much. But if...