Michael Miltenberger

Thank you. That’s not really specific or germane to the Wildlife Act. It is a discussion that we’ve had when we’ve talked about land use for example with the Dehcho Land Use Plan and other areas. As we look at finalizing our land use framework, we will be dealing more precisely with that particular issue. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think it behooves us all to have as energy-efficient building standards for all people in the Northwest Territories as possible. The issue is going to be to sort through the regulatory and government’s issues to, in fact, be able to allow ourselves to do that so that we, in fact, as the Member indicated, will have a common standard that is as high as the government sets for itself. Thank you.

Within government there is already clear evidence of our commitment to the proper energy-efficient building standards both in the commercial and residential areas. There is a process we have committed to in terms of consultation and working with the public and stakeholder groups to get their feedback, to get their best advice, and we’re going to do that. It’s not a question of myself, as Minister, standing up and trying to rule by fiat, which does not tend to work that well in a consensus government environment. I’m very sensitive to the Member’s concerns and when we bring this Greenhouse Gas...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a few people in the gallery today. Ms. Denise Yuhas, a very successful businesswoman and one of the best constituency assistants in the business. Bonnie Lynch, one of our northern trained and very capable nurses; and Ms. Theresa Beaulieu from Fort Smith as well. Welcome to the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If all goes according to plan, the intention is to give notice for first reading on the 7th of March.

Thank you. We will listen carefully to the Member’s suggestion and request. The issue of a top-up is one I will check. Our responsibility is mainly to do with the surface remediation and, of course, we’ve already contributed $27 million that we’ve booked for our share. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The discussions we’ve had with Mr. Pollard in regard to regulatory reform and the work he’s doing and some of our concerns have focused on other areas. Though we have talked about properly funding the processes that are currently there that haven’t been funded, things like cumulative impact. Thank you.

Thank you. The government shares the Member’s interest and concern in moving with this act. It’s been identified by this Legislature and the government as a priority piece of legislation. We are taking it down to the wire. So the intention, as I indicated, is to bring it forward into this House to give notice in the last week, from the 7th to the 10th, give it first and second reading, hopefully, and get approved, and then it will become the property of the committee to be able to do their consultation and either in May or August bring it back for third reading. Thank you.

Thank you. The AIP negotiations have yet to start. We’ve signed an agreement to start the negotiations and there is a section on remediation of sites and I will check whether Giant Mine is within that particular process or not, but the main point being that we’ve just initialled the document and the actual negotiation process has yet to start. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.