Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Specifically to social impacts, which I think is really outside the NEB process, which will be focused more on technical issues, on tolling issues, those kinds of questions specific to social impacts, we want to work with communities. We are certainly going to find some dedicated resources to coordinate this government’s approach to that. I know that the social envelope Ministers are going to sit down, and one of the first steps is to take an inventory of programs and services currently available in communities and then to sit down and recognize that different...

I can give the Member that assurance. I also want to say to the Member and other Members, if issues do come up and there are things that arise and Members believe it is as a result of the transition process, I want to make sure they bring them to my attention as quickly as possible. We want to work with our regional staff, as I said, to make sure this is a seamless transition. We want to make sure there’s no interruption for our clients and this is of utmost priority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of existing arrangements, we believe it will be a seamless transition from RWED to the two new departments. But it would be ITI that would be responsible for providing the submissions to communities and staffing these positions where we have that arrangement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think one of the most important steps is to make sure communities registered as interveners in the JRPEA process and I think that that has been done. They are challenged though to have the resources to have meaningful involvement and that will be the real problem here. We also need to understand from communities exactly what their hopes and aspirations are in terms of benefits and opportunities, and we need to work that into our socioeconomic agreement negotiations with the producers. But I’ll certainly give the Member my commitment that, as lead Minister on this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly apologize to the Member; I’m not aware of the specific report that the Member is speaking to. But let me say generally that we recognize that despite the fact that we consider this development boom to be a blessing and would much rather have employment than unemployment, we recognize that there are going to be challenges for communities with this level of employment. There will be, Mr. Speaker, and we can’t deny it. There will be social impacts that need to be mitigated. It’s important that communities are able to come to the table in the EIS process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In short, yes. I think we are also going to be setting about a plan to better understand the federal government’s intentions on ensuring a sustainable environment and the $3 billion in new funding that was announced in that regard. Again, we have to know what that means for the Territories. The Minister of MACA, Mr. McLeod, has recently written several letters to federal officials making the case for communities in this territory who need help in order to be ready for this development, who need help in developing capacity. As a government, we will continue to press...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know if the Member is making the argument for me, but the fact that the Wildlife Act is taking a long time and the beverage container recovery plan is underway but won’t be rolled out in every community for April 1st, I think speaks to our capacity as a government in some regard. I don’t want to put it all there, Mr. Speaker. We’re moving forward on these initiatives, but quite clearly we have been under resourced. Yes, we do need to work to ensure the federal government steps up to fund its responsibility in terms of helping interveners through this GRPEA. I...

Mr. Speaker, the environment is very important to us, as is the economy. I think it’s important that we ensure that the resources are there for us to meet the needs of all NWT residents in this regard. I’d like to also indicate to the Member that when we looked at the breadth of responsibility in this one department, RWED, and compared it to other jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker, British Columbia has six different departments to handle this breadth; in Alberta, it’s seven; Saskatchewan has four; Manitoba has eight; Ontario has eight; Newfoundland has five. We were dealing with one department for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is of highest priority. Our Joint Cabinet/AOC Pipeline Planning Committee has discussed how we had better approach the federal government in a number of areas, including how we might help to get money to mitigate some of the social impacts. There are a whole range of areas. This is of highest priority for that committee, of highest priority for this government, and we will certainly continue to do that, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that’s a very good question and certainly one on the minds of a number of parties who have made application to intervene before the JRP environmental assessment. In the coming days, weeks and months, we’ll know more about the criteria the federal government plans to attach to this money. As I have indicated previously, we have heard from many disgruntled groups who feel that phase one and phase two of the funding that’s been available through DIAND has been inadequate and they haven’t been able to access it. So hopefully, and I know it’s what the Member is...