Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was thinking last night about today’s significant celebration. Hearing some of the Members this morning, I’m not going to do a song this morning. There are some songs I’d like to do. For example, If These Walls Could Talk, or Mansion on the Hill. There are lots of songs. Anyway, I’m going to skip over that.

I want to say, in all seriousness, I want to give recognition to all who made it possible so that we are standing here today, when we look at the significant changes that we made as a government or as a people of the Northwest Territories from living in the bush on...

Mr. Speaker, I talked about the incidents that the CBC reported on Norman Wells being the number one community of oil and gas leakage, fire, injuries and pipeline integrity. I want to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources if there is a reporting protocol and why doesn’t it include any type of notification to the public on these incidents that CBC had to tell the world on this type of stuff that’s dear to our hearts.

Thank you. Now that we know, I’d say we are paid to solve problems. Let’s do this together.

I’ll have questions for the Minister of ENR at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I ask for a recorded vote.

That’s fine. That’s good. No more questions.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to say thanks to the students in Yellowknife and Norman Wells, and the Diamond Jenness students. I didn’t go to the one in Hay River, but I understand that they had some good discussions. It’s the first time that we’ve taken this piece of legislation to the ones that we are mostly gearing this to that affects them, the students, and to the students for being brave enough to allow us into their schools and speak to us. I haven’t seen this ever in my life growing up and going to school in Inuvik. I never saw legislators come into our school at Samuel Hearne High...

Mr. Speaker, the National Energy Board and the Government of the Northwest Territories are certainly going to enter into a partnership where we will become the employer and the National Energy Board will become the employee on April 1, 2014. I want to ask the Minister: Would he set up a meeting with the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated, the GNWT, the National Energy Board – because they’ll be our new regulators – and Imperial Oil to look at this report here and look at, going forward, where do we need to work together to put a zero effect of oil spills, pipeline corrosion, any type of incident...

According to reports from Imperial in 2009, 127,000 litres of water contaminated with hydrocarbons that was used to force oil up from the underground also poured into the water. Even though we do have a report-a-spill line for all these types of incidents, with the Minister of the Environment, what are the consequences to ensure for these illegal releases of contaminated water in the river?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize former Member Jake Ootes and his lovely missus. And also to recognize Roy Erasmus, a former Member also for the Legislative Assembly. It’s good to see Jake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We either have the best incident reporting policy in Canada or we have the worst-kept secrets of oil and gas incidents in the Northwest Territories.

According to a recent CBC report, the National Energy Board, Canada’s pipeline regulators, showed that more than 70 incidents from spills, leaks and injuries or fires were reported in Norman Wells. That’s in six years.

Mr. Speaker, we have a problem. Are our regulatory laws strong enough? I say no, because we need to tighten them up, as per the report that CBC clearly indicated. This has shaken my confidence in our...