Michael Miltenberger

We’re currently in the exploration stage. As we move forward and if the Sahtu oil play proves out and becomes a producing field, those discussions, on an ongoing basis, will be there. In the meantime, there will be monitoring throughout the approved projects, the requirements that they have to adhere to in terms of the monitoring, the disclosure, the information that they have to share, the issue of fracking fluids. All those are going to be addressed in a way that fits industry best standards. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have with me Deputy Minister Ernie Campbell; director of wildlife, Ms. Lynda Yonge; and Ms. Kelly McLaughlin, director of legal division. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I once again rise on a point of order under 23(k) and (l).

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in this House you ruled on a point of order that I raised in this House last week, in which you found that I did have a point of order and Mr. Hawkins was asked to withdraw his comments.

It has come to my attention and I am rising on the first available opportunity and I will table this document at the appropriate time today. It has come to my attention that a Facebook electronic missive was sent out of this House literally minutes after your ruling, that says, “Well, the NWT Speaker ruled...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present Bill 3, Wildlife Act. As the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure noted in its review of Bill 3, Wildlife Act, a collaborative approach and extensive consultation was used to develop this legislation before us today. The collaborative process, which began about 20 years ago, is unique in Canada. No other public government has worked so closely with Aboriginal governments to jointly draft legislation on issues of deep and abiding interest to all.

The road to this point was not always smooth and there were a lot of...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, an excerpt from Mr. Robert Hawkins, MLA for Yellowknife Centre, Facebook page. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have a model that we have developed through our Territorial Formula Financing Agreement. We’ve looked at our costs in the Northwest Territories. We have an 11.5 percent corporate tax rate. We have a 4 percent small business rate. We are in the middle of the pack in most of our taxation.

When we take over the royalty regimes, of course we are going to look at them very carefully. We are going to offer briefings to the other side of the House. We are going to offer briefings to Northerners so we fully understand how taxes are implemented, how royalties are exercised in this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve just had some discussion in this House about cost of energy, the fact that it’s driving Northerners away and it is crippling business. So one of the reasons we are very careful and we haven’t touched taxes for a number of years and we have looked at efficiencies is because we don’t want to add to the burden of business or to Northerners. We are spending millions on improving our energy efficiency and we are spending millions on looking at transmission line expansions, all tied to affecting the cost of living productively and to lower it. The issue of raising taxes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will choose my response carefully. In this House where there is sometimes political theatre, the demand for instant, quick fixes, silver bullets may play well on the airwaves, but the Member knows in his heart of hearts – he’s been in this Assembly for a considerable amount of time – that everything takes planning. It takes planning, it takes design, it takes resources, it takes consultation and we’ve been working on these improvements since the last Assembly and we are going to continue to do that. If the Member has a silver bullet that he wants to share with us that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of clarification, for a commercial customer using 2,000 kilowatts in a five-kilowatt demand in Iqaluit and Yellowknife, in Yellowknife the total bill would be $476.53 and in Iqaluit it would be $953.73. Yellowknife to Iqaluit is lower by $477.20. At the residential level, there is a significant subsidy provided to residential power users in Iqaluit versus Yellowknife. Our rates are higher than Whitehorse, but clearly when you look at Whitehorse, they have the majority of their population living very, very close to the city. They have road access to all their...

Thank you, Ms. Chair. We will be supporting the motion. There are two areas that are affected by this. Should an individual have training in another area that’s recognized, then they would be exempted, plus there’s an Aboriginal right to hunt and to harvest. You can’t put any conditions on that. It’s clear. People will agree to it. We will work out how we… Everybody wants to have safe hunting practices within law. You cannot constrain that right that is guaranteed in the Constitution. Thank you.