Thebacha

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Formula Financing Agreement as we know it is going to be continued until 2018. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 7)

We are making note of the Member’s request. We will have discussions in the department to talk about how we move forward on the request and the concern. We will be able to come back. By the time we’re back here next year, we will hopefully see some reflection of the results of that work and discussion. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 7)

The Member is correct; the intent is to conclude Alberta, and then move to British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and then up with the Yukon to look at mainly the Peel watershed. So that would be our next step after this. We are doing it sequentially, mainly tied to capacity and the way the agreed-to work plan that was laid out. It will involve a very similar process. We are going to continue to have full involvement of the Aboriginal Steering Committee and we are going to do all the necessary work, but a lot of the groundwork, the template will have been worked through with Alberta. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is a modest pot of money available to work with communities for risk management plans implementation. I would point out, as well, this is another area where personal responsibility is a big one and we, as well, encourage homeowners to make sure that their underbrush is clear, the trees are limbed, their house has as few flammable exterior products as possible, in addition to reliance on governments to come in and make sure the communities are fire smart.

We’re also doing a number of creative things, working, for example, in Fort Smith. They’re working with...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, let me offer this to the Member and to the public as well. When we did the budget dialogues, people asked us, when you come back next year, give us more comprehensive information. We tried to give them a summary, but they wanted to have the detail. So what I’ll commit to in this House is that when we do our budget dialogues, we will lay out the fiscal strategy in detail, plain English, but enough detail so that folks will be able to see on the capital side, on the O and M side how we budgeted ourselves for the next four years, two years, when we go out to the communities. We can...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I referenced initially in my comments responding to the opening comments, this Land Use Sustainability Framework is the government’s thinking, and it’s a framework that captures how we want to deal with the broad issue of land use and the sustainability principles that have been a cornerstone and bedrock of this government’s approach to resource development and just in general our relationship to the land, the water and the animals. Within that framework there are other subsidiary frameworks that are being worked on, strategies. Minister Ramsay referenced one today...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have laid out the fiscal framework going forward to Members. The Stanton Hospital is going to be done over time. We recognize there is planning work to be done. There’s money being budgeted, increasing amounts, over the coming years that will allow us to manage this project.

As we go forward, other projects will fall off and be completed. So we have looked at all the numbers, we looked at all these factors, and we are of the opinion – and we’ve laid it out before this House and before committee – that we can manage these projects with careful investments, some very...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 6)

Mr. Chairman, if my memory serves me correctly, in the last government we worked extensively in trying to do community energy plans with all of the communities working with Arctic Energy Alliance. We subsequently put in these Pathfinders.

If I just may offer one final comment… And yes, our door is open to have those further discussions.

I speak of wood chips with a caution in my voice because in Fort Smith the Metis local started out putting in a facility to heat about four of their big buildings right by Roaring Rapids and a number of other buildings. They started out with wood chips in mind...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 6)

As a government, we are cognitively working with all the appropriate departments, including ENR and ITI, the National Energy Board, industry and the folks in the Sahtu, to work on guidelines. We’ve briefed committee and Minister Ramsay has taken the Members around to see sites down south. We’ve been working on guidelines and there is work underway. We anticipate them by this fall. We will be able to put guidelines on the table for discussion that would lay out what we think is the most appropriate way forward as it pertains to hydraulic fracturing. Thank you.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 6)

Thank you. The money that’s in there for rebates and grants is there, and we’ve added dollars and we’ve raised the cap, especially for businesses. So businesses that have expenses that are fairly significant, I think the cap has been raised to $50,000 from $15,000 and to better support folks. So that money is there not only for Inuvik, of course – but if they make use of that, that’s more power to them – but other Northerners as well. Thank you.