Wally Schumann

I have had the opportunity to meet the Minister from the federal government, my counterpart, but we not had direct discussions on Pine Point Mine site.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A little bit of a delay there. Pine Point, as the Member stated, was around for a long time and for a number of years it’s been shut down as I know, as I’m a resident very close to that community. Pre-devolution I believe the Pine Point mine site would have been a federal responsibility and I would have to look into that matter, but I believe prior to devolution it was under the responsibility of the federal government. Thank you for that, Mr. Speaker.

Once the plan is tabled in this House, we will be looking at seeking engaging our Aboriginal partners and advising a plan with the priority outcomes and that. We will continue with the process with all Aboriginal governments and private sector and user groups as we did previously. We will be looking to engage them in a meaningful way.

Thank you, Ms. Speaker. The department is working on the Conservation Net Reduction Plan to bring forward towards this House here during this session. Hopefully we’re going to bring forward our new strategy and Conservation Action Plan. These two questions that he’s proposed to me are both related to the conservation area that he’s referring to. The woodland caribou has a strategy that we’re developing right now with our Aboriginal partners and collaboratively with all people, user groups, and that. I’m glad to say that the working group has worked on a plan and we’re expecting to release that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that this is another initiative that the department’s bringing forward and it’s working its way through the system. I think this is something we would gladly bring to committee on a briefing and have a good discussion with everyone and get them up to speed on where we’re at, so we’ll offer that too. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Member’s correct.

Mr. Speaker, climate change continues to be one of the most serious environmental, economic, and political challenges of our time and it is an important issue to the residents of the Northwest Territories. In the mandate, the Government of the Northwest Territories, or GNWT, has committed to develop a territorial climate change strategy that takes northern energy demands and the cost of living into account. It will reflect commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and explore carbon pricing systems and how to capture local alternatives such as hydro, biomass, wind, and solar. Work to...

Yes, that's correct, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to speak to this based on the comments that the House has received. Upon reviewing all our positions for this up and coming budget session, we reviewed these jobs, and, previous to the proposal of the reduction of this one position, we had one and a half positions within our department for this specific need. What we propose is we've eliminated the halftime position and, with decentralization, we've actually created one whole new complete position for this in the South Slave, so we have more people serving in this capacity than we did previously. We're actually...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled “Northwest Territories State of the Environment Report Highlights 2016.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.