Michael Miltenberger

Our intention is to make sure that we proceed April 1st. We’re not going to be licensing projects with no security, with hoping that they’re going to put money in. I mean, the federal system, I can’t speak to that, I’m not that knowledgeable about it. I don’t know how much slack they cut people, but the commitment has been very clear from the government that we intend to protect the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories on a go-forward-basis. There’s no intention of getting by on goodwill and don’t worry, trust us, we’ll be there if you need it. We’re going to be looking to work...

There are no direct funds allocated at this point in this budget for the renewal process.

We would like to see the renewed Greenhouse Gas Strategy be reflective of the place we are in terms of our political evolution, and with devolution and having all these authorities, I think we want to take that more comprehensive look that the Member has been talking about. Thank you.

Thank you. One of the key intents for the Government of the Northwest Territories deciding to become its own regulator is that we’d have a unique political environment and if we look at some critical framing pieces that have been referred to in this House by the Premier and other Ministers, the Land Use and Sustainability Framework, the work we’ve laid out in the Wildlife Act, the Water Stewardship Strategy, the approach that we are taking with the Employment Strategy and the Mineral Strategy all within the broad framing document and the principles, particularly the Land Use Sustainability...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we proceed down the path to April 1st, we have this development assessment process we are setting in place with Lands, ITI, ENR. As projects come through the door, there’s going to be basically a checklist and a layout of what needs to get done by whom during the different stages of the application process. Then once they’re in business, the monitoring of the various parts of the operation including the remediation if it’s required, the securities, and the enforcement. That’s one of the benefits of having an integrated coordinated approach and we’re going to be able...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’ll just dig out that detailed information in terms of the positions and the other costs to see and we’ll provide that to committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the intention would be to fully consider the recommendations coming out of the audit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The term "responsible Minister" has a number of definitions to it. In some cases the Minister themselves will be directly responsible in terms of signing documents off or being involved in the process, in other cases, depending on what the project is, the responsible Minister authorities are delegated down into the organization where the technical people and other trained individuals carry out those functions. So we will continue to play the role that we’ve had in the past, but it will be elevated from what has been described as an ancillary role to now a leadership...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two things: I don’t think we should diminish the amount of work and time and effort we’ve spent in making a fundamental shift in the use of alternative energy in the Northwest Territories, which I think is very significant and I think it in fact probably leads the country in terms of things like biomass and our investment in solar, especially in remote communities, and we’re going to continue to make those investments.

Yes, I agree with the Member that we want to look at all avenues when it comes to being as environmentally conscious as possible with the smallest carbon...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There’s not a fund that I’m aware of. If they are charged and found guilty, in all probability there would be a fine and they would be tasked with doing the remediation. We also have our own security deposits that we have for specific projects. But there’s no fund, as far as I’m aware, that we pay into like the one we do here that we’re talking about right now. Thank you.