Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Longstanding questions about the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management provided for under devolution remain unanswered. There remains an apparent and disturbing lack of responsibility regarding the mandate of the House and the mandate of the Intergovernmental Council, given that the council is supposed to respect the autonomy and authority of each government over its own lands.

On February 14th I asked the Premier how Regular Members would have input into the terms of reference for this administrated structure. The Premier replied, “Thank you, Mr...

Just a comment. I think we have covered this to a good degree. Obviously, I don’t think we’ve come up with a response, but I would just note that highways, this division is accounting for 44 percent of our infrastructure budget. That’s probably almost the definition of putting all our eggs in one basket and I don’t think it’s a wise use of our resources.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for that offer from the Premier. I assume he would be willing to present that in writing. I’m sure that committee would respond positively to that, had we received that.

Given that the Premier has told us that other governments would be open to observers if they also had the opportunity to have observers, would the Premier go back to them and take them up on that offer and push for observer status for elected representatives of any of the governments participating in the Intergovernmental Council? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Premier McLeod, following my Member’s Statement where I spoke about my disappointment that yet again this government has acted in a way inconsistent with the tenets of consensus government, this time in the formation and work of the Intergovernmental Council on Land and Resource Management. Despite assurances from the Premier, MLAs had no input into the terms of reference and have no observer status.

Why, despite specific requests to and obligations of the Premier, were MLAs left completely outside of the room of the Intergovernmental Council...

Transparency is one of the cornerstones of consensus government. What other decisions, properly belonging to the House, are the Premier and Intergovernmental Council making without the participation of MLAs? If the Premier has his way, and without even observer status for elected representatives of the people, we may never know. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To cut to the chase for the record: imprudent, premature. Thank you.

I should be clear that I support the concept of an Intergovernmental Council if it’s transparent and clear. It’s not transparent and clear, and the Premier’s minions do not understand, because they’re telling us that the Intergovernmental Council is setting priorities which are the responsibility of this House. That’s the example I raised.

As an elected representative of the people, when I look at the Premier’s push to give away and limit our right to authority without any democratic review still, I have concerns about the opportunity to meet the expectations of the public for MLA involvement...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I enjoy the consistency across the years.

So, $20 million, $20.037 million, we have had some discussion on this, I think, but I just want to note that this sort of expenditure and this specific one is totally consistent with the impacts of climate change. It’s a consequence of the extreme weather events that are happening globally with increasing frequency and severity. The NWT doesn’t have any special dispensation, so these sorts of things we can expect again with increasing frequency and severity and we need to be able to plan for them.

Scientists have warned about this...

Thanks to the Minister. Just driving out to Behchoko, I estimate perhaps 100 cases of land occupancy en route. I have no idea how many are legal or not, but the last time I looked there were two leases between Yellowknife and Behchoko.

The Department of Lands has no inventory of illegal structures on Territorial land, of which we know there are at least dozens, possibly hundreds, despite their mandate, and a list of the legal structures in place through leases. It would seem easy enough to develop such an inventory, identifying all the structures and subtracting the ones which we know – the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Minister R.C. McLeod. I was pleased to hear, earlier in the session, that the Department of Lands has instituted a moratorium on new recreational leases until a new made-in-the-NWT lands framework is developed. However, this does not address the unauthorized structures and land occupancy that has sprung up in the intervening vacuum.

What plans does the Minister have to address the proliferation of illegal structures we see already built and continuing to be built on public Territorial land? Mahsi.