David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 56, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act 2015, be read for the first time.

I certainly support a balanced approach to this, and that’s where I’m at. I believe we can have a balanced approach. I said this before in the House and I’ll say it again today. We’re not going to be in the energy business unless we’re in the business of protecting the environment, and we need to be in both of those. Thank you.

We still have a portion of the process to get through, more communities to have meetings in. What we will do, and I have committed in the House last week, was to extend the period and the process until the end of August. We will take a look. I know Members are asking for more educational opportunities for communities. We will take everything we’ve heard into consideration and make a concerted effort to address the concerns we’ve heard and, again, carry the process out until the end of August and further if need be. Thank you.

Again, not that I am aware of. We have been seeing hydraulic fracturing for decades now, specifically in western Canada where there have been hundreds of thousands of wells drilled without incident, and it has happened here in the Northwest Territories without incident.

We’ve got some more community meetings to take place. We’ve got the process to try to wrap up. But given us some more time, we made an announcement last week that we are going to take until the end of August with the process. If we need further time, we’re going to take that time. We’re going to ensure we get that right. We’re going to talk to people. We’re going to try and get as much education out there on what we’re trying to do, where we’re trying to go. There’s going to be opportunity for Members through the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure. We’ll get their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and through my role as regulator of the industry, we are not involved in the baseline studies that would have been done in the Liard Basin. I know there has been some work there. I will get the Member that level of detail, and I suppose I’d have to go to another department to get that information.

Not that I am aware of.

We don’t have park officers working 24 hours a day, but what we do have is a concentration on the weekend when the parks are the busiest, on Friday evening and Saturday evening. I know park officers work well into the wee hours of the morning. They stay longer. They work overtime if need be, especially on busy weekends.

Again, I encourage the Member to get me the particulars of the incident he’s talking about and we will get him an answer on that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in cooperation with the judiciary, the Department of Justice has been supporting specialized courts in Yellowknife since 2011. Specialized courts and their programs provide offenders with an opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and get the support that they need to lead healthier lives for themselves and their families.

Today I want to advise Members that in April the Domestic Violence Treatment Option Court was expanded to Hay River. The DVTO Court, as it is known, is now available for offenders from Hay River, Enterprise and the K’atlodeeche First Nation.

I would...

Again, the Member is asking me some pretty leading questions and I take that question as notice. Thank you.