Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. It gets back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about the Mackenzie Gas Project.
I have been a Member now for over six years. I know the government has put a tremendous amount of resources into this project from a staff perspective and also monetarily. I think the government is on the right track. The Minister is on the right track. I know he is doing some good things. I agree with him. I don’t think we can allow anyone to underestimate the importance that this project has to our economic well-being going forward.
Mr. Speaker, there has been much discussion lately about the importance of the federal government to provide the necessary financial commitments to see the Mackenzie Gas Project become a reality. I am wondering if the Minister is aware of the status of those negotiations between the proponents and the federal government.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the honourable Member for travelling with me to Calgary.
---Laughter
MLA Ramsay for travelling to Calgary with me. It reinforced to the oil and gas industry executives the importance that this government places on the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline project. I think this is a very important question, because I am getting concerned that too many people think that this pipeline is a sure thing now that the Joint Review Panel report has been released. It is an important step, but there is another important step which is the fiscal arrangements. I often refer to what the United States government is doing. The United States government has given unequivocal support to the Alaska Pipeline. They have passed bills providing loan guarantees up to $40 billion for the Alaska Pipeline. It is supported right up to the White House. President Barack Obama has indicated that he likes the jobs, he likes the benefits from the Alaska Pipeline and also the safe, secure supply of Arctic natural gas. So our government has provided qualified support. Our Canadian government has indicated that it supports the project subject to an environmental review, subject to the regulatory review and subject to fiscal arrangements yet to be negotiated.
Minister Prentice before, early in 2009, said he would have a fiscal arrangement in place before the Joint Review Panel report was released. In December he said he didn’t have a deal and that he didn’t know when he would have the deal and that he would be continuing to work with the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline proponents.
So I still firmly believe that this project is very important to Canada and I believe that Canada will see it in the same way. I think that the Mackenzie Pipeline project can be a legacy to this federal government and that the negotiations are continuing. There is a Throne speech that will be coming out in March and we’re still very optimistic that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline will receive approval.
I thank the Minister for that and it’s interesting that he cites the American experience, because there has been a reluctance here in Canada for the federal government to state that it will create a fiscal environment that would allow the project to be built. I’d like to ask the Minister how is our government lobbying the federal Cabinet to get the Mackenzie Gas Project directly on the front page of their briefing binders on the first thing they look at when they go to Cabinet meetings, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you. Our government has been very active in promoting a Mackenzie Pipeline. We have done a large amount of work outlining the significant benefits, not only to the Northwest Territories but to Canada. We pointed out to different provinces that the largest beneficiaries would be the provinces of Alberta and Ontario. Our Premier has met with the Prime Minister on a number of occasions. I know a number of our Ministers, every time we go out to Ottawa we take the occasion to talk about the pipeline. The pipeline is our biggest priority and this is something that we want the rest of Canada to realize, that the Mackenzie Pipeline has very significant benefits to all of Canada and we see it as a way to kick-start the economy, and I think that some positive messaging in the very near future would be very beneficial to the Northwest Territories and the rest of Canada.
Thank you. I’m wondering if the Minister has any indication on when the federal Cabinet may be making a decision on the fiscal arrangements with the Mackenzie Gas Project and between now and then what effort is our government going to do to get to Ottawa to reinforce the fact that we cannot go on without this project. I mean, it’s the future of our Territory economically and socially, opportunities for our people. There’s so much here at stake, Mr. Speaker, and what are we going to do between now and then to get that message out there? Thank you.
Thank you. We have been meeting with the federal Ministers. We’ve also been meeting with the oil and gas industry executives and we’ve been discussing how we can work more closely together.
One of the messages we get from the federal government is that we need to speak with one voice. Also, we’re hearing: where is the chorus of support from the Northwest Territories? They say, “what are you hearing from certain individuals or organizations that they support the pipeline,” but we don’t have the whole Northwest Territories indicating their support for the pipeline. So I think that we recognized that the next two months are probably very critical to a decision on the fiscal arrangements. So I think that’s something that we are concentrating on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister, I know he talked about not having the support here and I talked earlier in my Member’s statement about a motion that I’d like to bring forward at some point in time, but what does the Minister feel that we can do as a government, as a people here in the Northwest Territories, to get that message through to the federal government that we need this project here in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you. I think that if we can somehow get the federal government to recognize that all of the people in the Northwest Territories support the pipeline and feel it’s an important project and priority for this government and Territory, that that would go a long ways. Also, I know the 15th Assembly had passed a motion in support -- I think it was unanimous support -- for the Mackenzie Pipeline and I think that probably would only help to reinforce it if this 16th Legislative Assembly did the same. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
