Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, protecting species at risk is a major priority for the people of the Northwest Territories. In September 2006 the Department of Environment and Natural Resources released a public consultation document outlining the major elements proposed for NWT species-at-risk legislation. The proposed Species at Risk Act is a result of collaboration with land claim organizations during the drafting process. It was created to promote the effective management of species and prevent them from becoming at-risk in the NWT. The draft also ensures residents are involved in decisions regarding the...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Workers’ Compensation Act, be read for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, fundamentally and initially, this is a federal responsibility, but ENR tries to be as responsive and as involved as possible. Of course, I would defer to the superior knowledge and expertise of my colleague. If he has any specific suggestions in anticipation of the coming fall, I’d be most happy to sit down and talk to him about that.

Mr. Speaker, clearly, I appreciate knowing the Member is there for me. I look forward to maybe sitting down with him before the end of session to talk about some specifics we could move on collectively.

Mr. Speaker, we have about 1,200 days left, so we’re not talking years here. We’re going to be moving fairly quickly. When we do, I look forward to the Member’s support to push this forward and help us deal with all the potential obstacles.

While the Member may think it’s relatively simple, it does take time. If we stood up today and said we’re going to get rid of plastic bags, we have to plan how you’re going to do that, how much lead time, and make sure you have it laid out very clearly. You want to make sure we consult with committee and do this right. We want to do this so that it will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to point out that I think ENR has provided fairly significant leadership. If you think back a couple of years, when we first rolled out the recycling program, it was with considerable consternation, because the plan wasn’t complete enough. We forged ahead anyway, and now we have a very successful program. We continue to work on that program. We’ve been doing consultations, and we plan to come forward here in the next number of weeks with a plan that will look at some fairly significant improvements to the waste reduction and recycling program. On our list...

I would be happy to commit to the Member that I will come forward, along with our Cabinet colleagues, with a paper that outlines those policy implications and the jurisdictional issues and lays out the landscape as we plan to move forward collectively here at the Legislature, and how can we best do that to address the issue that Mr. Bromley has raised.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to point out that we are moving to occupy a field where some would question the issue of jurisdiction. I’m speaking specifically about the area of water. We’re moving forward — in a very proactive way, I think. We have a framework that we’re going to be taking to committee here. The Premier’s mentioned that. We have a broad land-use framework that we’re working on, and we intend to work with committee. We have a joint climate change committee that’s going to give us advice on how to move forward on this.

This is an issue that has work required to be done. We don’t have...

Mr. Speaker, now, for the third time in this set of questions, I will say that in the coming weeks we are coming forward with a plan that will lay out how we intend to move on this particular issue.

If I stood up and just unilaterally and arbitrarily announced we were going to do certain things, the first question I would be asked is, “Why didn’t you consult us? And why did we have to stand up…? Why are we hearing about this in this Legislature and not through the committee process?”

I am very respectful — we are very respectful — of that process. We want to continue to be. We will be coming to...

Mr. Speaker, I was just trying to acknowledge and point out the fact that in reality, ENR has been fairly progressive in terms of how we move on this type of issue, and we’re going to continue to be.

We’re going to come forward with a plan in the next number of weeks. We’re going to work with the committee. We’re going to lay out a fairly, I believe, ambitious plan that’s going to allow us to address things like plastic bags and expand on beverage containers. We’re going to look at cardboard. We want to look at electronic waste. We have the unresolved issue of tires.

I agree with the Member. I...