David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Agriculture Products Marketing Council 2013-2014 Annual Report.” Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise before the House today to inform you that Cabinet has agreed to begin developing regulations under the NWT Oil and Gas Operations Act that will set out filing requirements for projects involving hydraulic fracturing.

The Northwest Territories has significant natural resource potential that could help create prosperity, jobs and economic opportunities for Northerners and the whole country. Devolution has given the Government of the Northwest Territories new powers to manage resource development. We are committed to using those new powers to ensure that the development of...

Mr. Speaker, we would be happy to try and get that information together for the Member. Back in the ‘70s near the Northwest Territories/British Columbia border, there was some fracking that took place and, again, at Beaver River. I would be happy to get that information for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned in my Minister’s statement earlier, but I want to recognize two individuals with us today. First if all, Mr. Wade Blake. I’d like to welcome him today and thank him very much for his work here in the Northwest Territories. I wish him well in his new capacity as director of community justice and policing with the Department of Justice.

Also, Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Mr. Ron Smith, the new commanding officer with “G” Division here in the Northwest Territories. Ron is from my hometown, St. John, New Brunswick. It’s nice to see another fellow from St...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 27, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2014, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, all those operations would have been under COGOA back in the ‘70s with the federal government. We will do our best to try to get that information for the Member. Of course, now we are responsible for onshore regulation of oil and gas here in the Northwest Territories. I will make a commitment to the Member that we will try our best to get that information to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe there has been some, but it was not horizontally drilled and fractured but vertically drilled and fractured. I believe there has been some in the Northwest Territories over the past few decades. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP enjoys a long and important history in the NWT, going all the way back to its original creation as a force established to police what was then a much larger Northwest Territories. Today the RCMP continues to be valued for the policing services they provide and the contributions individual members make in our communities.

Within our government and throughout the North, we are working collaboratively to address social issues more effectively. The local policing plans we have developed in partnership with the RCMP and communities demonstrate how effective this approach can be...

Mr. Speaker, the land claim is a very powerful tool for the people of the Sahtu and a valuable tool in that I do understand there are subsurface rights included in that land claim. As far as our government is concerned, we need to continue to work with the leadership in the Sahtu, and decisions are going to have to be made together with the people of the Sahtu so that they can get their way forward by working together with us. That is the way things are going to continue to happen. We have a track record of continuing to work with the Member, the leadership in the Sahtu, and we are going to...

Again, the dialogue needs to continue and the discussion needs to continue to happen. I know my colleagues, Minister Beaulieu and Minister Lafferty, we need to continue to work together, opportunities to invest in not only in people in the training but also in infrastructure. Those opportunities are before us and we just have to continue to work together. Thank you.