David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is true; I spent some years as a park officer in the North Slave region. A lot of my time was spent at Fred Henne Park during those years. If the Member has a specific incident that he wants to bring to our attention, I’d be more than happy to address that specific incident. We have had increased park officer presence at Fred Henne Park. I’m surprised to hear of the Member’s complaint. Like I said, we haven’t gotten a formal complaint from the Member. We don’t have specifics on who was involved, what time it was, what day it was and things like that that are very...

We are going one step further than that. We are getting out across the Northwest Territories. We are meeting with people in their home communities and we will continue to do that. As I mentioned to the Member, if there are communities that want to see us show up on their doorstep to talk about these draft regulations, that is something we will consider. Thank you.

I respect the Member and I respect his point of view, but when we got together after the 17th Legislative Assembly was elected in 2011, we came together, we formed a vision, we came up with our goals, and I’ll list them off here: a strong independent North built on partnerships; an environment that will sustain present and future generations; healthy, educated people free from poverty; a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices; sustainable, vibrant communities; and effective and efficient government.

Mr. Speaker, we have a region of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the Member’s concern. Again, if the leadership in those communities and the Member feel strongly that they would like to see us in those communities, whether we can get to all three or not, we will try our best. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned last week, we are going to take more time with the process that we have underway.

Again, every application is scrutinized by arm’s-length regulatory boards that hear directly from the public and make decisions and set requirements for every single project based on the specifics of each proposal, recognized best practices, current science and public views. Ruling out one particular technique is like telling a doctor they can only ever use general anesthetic for a procedure, when local anesthetic or even an aspirin might be more appropriate. It is more...

We hadn’t contemplated doing any polling. We are going to move forward with the plan that we have. If we need to make adjustments to that plan, we will do that. Thank you.

You just have to look around the Northwest Territories and a lot of the infrastructure that we have in place here today is a direct result of resource development, whether it’s mining or hydro, in the case of the Taltson, or mining.

We are looking at an opportunity in the central Mackenzie Valley. One of the knocks against the Territories is lack of infrastructure. Members are talking about environmental concerns, and the Member is asking about wastewater. It would make much, much more sense if we had an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley. That’s something that’s been a priority of the...

Again, the process is playing itself out. We still have some communities that we need to get in and have our meetings. But at the end of that process, we are going to look at other opportunities to work with communities and educate people. I know that Member Yakeleya and I talked about a possible elders summit on hydraulic fracturing in the Sahtu. That is something that I think we could take a look at potentially having sometime. If there are opportunities to get into communities to help educate the public on hydraulic fracturing, we need to take that opportunity. We have some time here. Again...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every application that is received is scrutinized by arm’s-length regulatory boards here in the Northwest Territories that hear directly from the public and make decisions and set regulations for every single project based on the specifics of each proposal.

Through ENR there has been work done on water and there are other efforts in place. Of course, the proponents in the Sahtu have done a lot of work on baseline information gathering themselves. So when an application comes forward, that information is in it so the public can understand what the application is and the...

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.