Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This office will coordinate the activities of this government. The Member is suggesting that that is lacking. I would concur. I would agree that that is lacking and we don’t have the capacity currently to coordinate and manage all the activities related to oil and gas and pipeline development. We are hoping that this office can do that. It’s going to need direction from the joint committee and need direction from Cabinet and ordinary Members. We can’t simply set up this office and hope that it will find its way through the myriad of challenges that will be this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we do have positions across the government that are involved in oil and gas. We know that ECE and the college are engaged in training activities, safety, welding and driver training. I think some 400-plus people went through training programs with ECE and the college last year to be ready for oil and gas. MACA does have employees engaged in capacity building, helping communities build capacity to be ready for oil and gas development. Other types of development are obviously RWED, with its petroleum advisors and business programs has a number of people involved in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we are having a lot of discussion internally in the department, but we do recognize the need to work very closely with our aboriginal government partners, with aboriginal development organizations. Obviously much of this activity will be grassroots driven. It’s not something that the government is interested nor should impose on regions. This should be to the comfort level of the individual communities and regions, but we want to work with them to help them understand and identify opportunities that there may be as we analyze world markets, because there...

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to announce the members of the Waste Reduction and Recovery Advisory Committee. They are:

Mr. Greg Rowe of Hay River Liquor Retailers & Tri R Recycling;

Mr. Ron Courtoreille of the NWT Liquor Commission;

Ms. Stephanie Sibbeston from Fort Simpson;

Mr. Bob Weaver of Territorial Beverages Ltd.;

Mr. Kevin O'Reilly of the NWT Association of Communities;

Mr. Raymond W. Masse of the Inuvik Recycling Society;

Mr. Jack Walker of Peterson and Auger Ltd.;

Ms. Katherine Silcock of the City of Yellowknife; and,

Mr. Joe Agrey of the NWT Motor Transportation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the next couple of weeks I will be before Cabinet and be making a presentation to Cabinet. Assuming endorsement of that presentation and assuming there aren't significant changes, I will very quickly then be able to come to committee. We will work with the Clerk's office to schedule something as soon as possible. I appreciate that summer is coming and it will be more and more difficult to get Members together, so I understand the urgency and will move quickly on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sure that if I get Cabinet support for a single agency, and I would indicate, Mr. Speaker, I still have to go forward to Cabinet with a proposal and receive an endorsement of that proposal prior to coming forward to committee, but if and when that happens, I am hoping that we can do something very quickly here. If and when that happens we will have, no doubt, a very good and I am sure heated exchange at the committee level about potential locations for a new agency. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would say that the individual tourism providers, I believe, are out at tourism shows. I know they will participate going forward and are out, as the Member indicates, with their sales books and trying to book tours for the upcoming season. My information, looking at the numbers from this past season, is that things are improving, if only slightly. We haven't seen the dramatic recovery that we were looking for, but I have spoken with two of the three operators who are involved in aurora visitation, and they are optimistic about the numbers and recognize that this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member is looking for the amount of money owed to the government, or the BCC specifically, from this company. I am unable, because of our legislation, to give the Member the number. The Member will remember we have had many past discussions about the need to balance the privacy and the protection of proprietary interest with the need for the public to know. This is a difficult balance. I think it is a discussion that we'll continue to have going forward. I look forward to that discussion, but without the agreement of the parties involved, I can't...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assure the Member that I don't consider his questioning a running record. I understand that this is very important to his community. He has made that point abundantly clear to me and to the public, I believe. I also understand the urgency and understand the cultural implications here and the willingness to not be seen to be wasting any meat in the community. I appreciate that and respect that. Last night, after the discussion in the House, I asked the department to sit down and come up with a proposed solution to this. What we're prepared to do, Mr. Speaker, is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's difficult for me, without the Cabinet endorsement of said proposal, to theoretically discuss and indicate exactly what that will include. No doubt, it will include a range of options and a range of suggestions. We have had some discussion in the past about our legislation being as open as possible, as transparent as possible. I have no doubt that that discussion will take place again and we will have that committee. Certainly I will indicate to the Members on the other side of the House that I will take their recommendations in this regard very seriously. So...