Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Action Plan and Results Report 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I’m very pleased to recognize Gloria Reyes, a constituent from Yellowknife South. Also, Larry Adamson, a long-time colleague of mine; and Mr. Hockey, Mr. Ed Jeske.

Because of the cautions about predetermination, we will be taking a very active role and a lot of it will depend on the recommendations of and the government response to the Joint Review Panel recommendations and the recommendations that are accepted by the National Energy Board. On that basis we will work on the premise that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, if approved, should be sustainable and should provide for benefits for people in the Northwest Territories.

As the Member recognized, this is a very complex area and as such we’re relying a lot on legal counsel and advice that we’re receiving. A lot of the quantified support and conditions that our government raised, I think there were 76 conditions that were raised way back in 2005-2006. At that time there was a lot of input sought from all the Members of the Legislative Assembly. Now we have come to the point where in order to be able to present in final arguments to NEB before the Joint Review Panel provides their response, we have to measure our responses in a way so that we do not appear to be...

All the Members were briefed on the legalities of dealing with the Joint Review Panel. One of the primary issues was the fact that we have three Members of this Legislative Assembly that are interveners in the Joint Review Panel process. As such, we don’t really have a process because there’s been no agreed upon process for dealing with the Members of the Legislative Assembly that are not interveners. According to the regulatory process, if we are to deal with one intervener, we have to deal with all the interveners at the same time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will try to answer that question in a very short period of time. As the Member knows, the Government of the Northwest Territories and particularly the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has been fully engaged in the NEB process since the proponents filed their project description in October 2004. We were working on an agreed upon process until late in 2009 when, with the lengthy delay in completing the regulatory process and the delay in getting the JRP report, the National Energy Board in its wisdom decided to change the order in which interveners would...

I should also point out that my colleague the Minister of ENR, who is not here, is the lead with regard to biomass and forestry. I guess the single most important requirement in this project would be the ability to secure a supply of timber. That would be the first consideration. Secondly would be power, as the Member has indicated. Thirdly, we think our tool kit of business programs would allow us to be able to work closely with the proponent so that we can provide funding or to work with him to identify and attempt to access other sources of funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’d certainly be quite pleased to come to Hay River and to meet with the proponent and the other MLAs and whoever else could add to the project, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is aware, this government has taken the unprecedented initiative of identifying $60 million over three years in order to look at alternative energy opportunities so that we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. As part of that $60 million, we have identified approximately something in the neighbourhood of $4 million to $6 million over a three-year period to develop a biomass strategy and to implement that strategy which includes utilizing wood pellets and manufacturing wood pellets et cetera. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I guess if it gives the Member any comfort, the Alaska Pipeline have indicated that their project be pushed back to probably 2020. I guess a large part of the delays there is with, for example in the Chukchi Sea, there have been a lot of court cases with regards to whales and other marine mammals. That is an issue that Americans have to face as well. We will continue to work through the regulatory process and we will be working on filing our government response. We will be participating in the hearings as they go along as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.