Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe in practical approaches to everyday problems. I believe we have a solution before us about this plastic bag problem, which is to use cloth bags or recyclable bags. In my household I try to lead by example. I have a six-year-old who often reminds me about stuff like that, because it’s the young kids who know all about this problem. They seem to be teaching us older folks.
We need some leadership from the Department of ENR on this issue. I’d certainly like to know and get some details as to where this government is on working toward eliminating, in a gradual sense, the use of plastic bags.
The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
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 are going to be things like plastic bags.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister taking the time out of the day to give himself a pat on the back. I mean, my issue really is what are we doing with plastic bags — not to make the Minister feel better about himself.
Mr. Speaker, what support programs are we going to provide for our citizens and our businesses to make this happen? You can hardly go to a store without them having a special little rack of recyclable bags. So what support programs and ideas is the Minister bringing forward to this problem?
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’ve been across every community in the Northwest Territories, and plastic bags are a blight on the landscape, literally. There’s no place that you walk in or around communities, from the 60th parallel, where I live in Fort Smith, or Ulukhaktok and any place in between…. If you look at the dumps, in the bush — no matter where you go — there are plastic bags. I agree that they’re a blight on the landscape. It’s time for us to take action on that.
Well, you know, it’s funny. When the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or government as a whole, says, “We’ll take action,” it could mean years. But when citizens like my constituents Adrian Bell or Paul Falvo, or I should mention Diavik, which will be now known as Rio Tinto…. I mean, when they decided to help clean up the streets, they could make a decision in that day and then run out there and start cleaning up the streets on these types of problems.
Mr. Speaker, what’s taking this problem so long? When can we see some real action on this? Because it’s not a difficult problem, to move forward on this initiative.
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 succeed, not just give a knee-jerk response and a poor plan.
Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
As the Minister says, when government moves…. Well, I’d better make sure I don’t miss it, because I’ll tell you, it takes a long time waiting for it.
Mr. Speaker, when can we expect this initiative? The Minister says, “Well, we have 1,200 days, yada yada yada.” This is a simple process. We could move on this initiative sooner than later. You know, the people expect some type of leadership. All I’m hearing is, “Let’s find ways to talk longer; let’s find ways to plan longer.” The problem is out there. The solution is out there. If the Minister wanted to do something, he could.
Mr. Speaker, in short, can the Minister guarantee that we’re going to move on this initiative in some direction, in some step, before Christmas this year?
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 committee. It is going to be an ambitious plan. It’s going to address the issues this Member raises, and not just the little narrow issue of plastic bags but the broader scope. I hope that the Member will in fact think outside the box and work with us to make this a reality.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
