Wally Schumann

Yes, we believe that all three of those can be achieved through doing this and as well as for future resource development in our territory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories released a draft hydro strategy in 2010. The hydro potential was noted to be 11,520 megawatts in the energy report produced by the Government of the Northwest Territories in May of 2011. Hydro development is included in the vision for the 2030 Energy Strategy and Energy Action Plan. The Taltson Hydro Expansion Project is the best understood option that we have to develop industrial-scale hydro potential in the near term that connect three legacy hydro assets you've mentioned. There is no specific plans in place beyond that...

For those of you who don't know, these are agreements on broad benefits for the Northwest Territories. It was negotiated with Fortune Minerals by our government and my department specifically on behalf of all residents of the Northwest Territories, including those in the Tlicho region. There is no requirement to engage the Tlicho government. We had hoped that, given this level of benefit to the Tlicho people, they would participate in the ceremonial signing agreement and be witnesses to this, but they chose not to.

That said, in December we met with the Tlicho government to discuss the contents...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government has long taken an approach of working in collaboration and partnership with industry and Indigenous governments, which has evolved from a time when we did not have the authorities and responsibilities that we are going to be having since devolution has taken place.

That said, we believe that our approach is working. These agreements have been signed and fostered billions of dollars in procurement and thousands of jobs for residents of the Northwest Territories since they were introduced in the 1990s, Mr. Speaker. The socio-economic agreements are one of...

From the conversation I had with their financial partner there from Australia, his approach he says has been always a small-scale approach to see what the real potential is there without a whole large investment. This was over a $1 billion investment to actually get Avalon up and going, their original pre-feasibility study, what they wanted to do. This is a new approach, and the department wants to follow this closely. Any type of economic opportunities that we can bring to the Northwest Territories for the residents and our Indigenous governments is a welcome opportunity, and we will work...

I would have to check into that, but my suspicion, talking to Mr. Bubar and his new partner, is Avalon would still be the lead on this project through engagement and the permitting process and the work that would have to be completed, and I would suspect that their new concept of a new mini, micro-mine concept, that they will have to engage our Indigenous partners and have discussions with them, as well, and update them.

No, it does not. Mini hydro is a firm and renewable energy option for three of our thermal communities that we will consider as part of our existing funding agreements with the Government of Canada, and we can set aside the funds necessary to build those projects where communities feel it is the best option to pursue. We will also consider other alternatives. Feasibility stage costs for the Taltson hydro expansion are included in the energy action plan, but significant new sources of funding and financing will be needed before it can proceed to construction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Government of the Northwest Territories believes that hydro power can be developed in an ecologically sensitive and environmentally safe manner for the benefit of the residents of the communities and our economy in the Northwest Territories.

As the Member knows, we are going to be sharing the specifics of our bill very soon in this Legislative Assembly, and that would be an appropriate time to comment on that.

With that, I would like to say that, generally, legislation of this type takes periods of years to come to and enforce after supporting regulations are developed. I wouldn't anticipate that we would want to wait until that act came into force to pass negotiation benefits for our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Member may not know, this agreement with Fortune has been in the works for some time, and we will continue to work on it. We signed with them last week in Vancouver. Its structure and its approach has been based on previous agreements that we have negotiated and put into place with the Government of the Northwest Territories. While we are reviewing our socio-economic agreements, the work is ongoing, and it has not reached a point where any conclusions or decisions have been made or could be reflected in the Fortune agreement.