Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to request a response to my question from the Minister, who must know what I’m going to ask. Thank you very much.
Laughter.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t actually know whether this is the Minister of ENR or ITI, but as I mentioned during my statement, there is zero requirement for development projects, large industry, to provide even 1 per cent of their energy requirements from renewable energy or to offset, and no compulsory requirement to gradually wrap that up to increasing amounts to address the climate change issue. Is the appropriate Minister working on getting that legislation in place?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’ll put the question to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is one of the issues on the list that we have to come to grips with. The federal government has come out with their own suggested plan. Now they’re indicating they’re prepared to look at alternative suggestions. It’s a discussion, as a government, that we have to have. Some of our existing policies, like the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, are mainly focused on how government does business, how we’re going to control our own emissions. But as we look at development, existing and to come, it is an issue that we’re going to, as a government, have to put our minds around in a policy sense.
Thank you to the Minister for that response. Our people are demanding that this government respond to the situation and not slough this off to the federal government. We’re also not talking policy; we’re talking about compulsory measures, which requires legislation. The MGP will triple our emissions. The diamond mines almost doubled them. How is the Minister planning to mitigate these impacts, which are on the backs of our people, as they walk away with their large profits?
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to point out that we are moving to occupy a field where some would question the issue of jurisdiction. I’m speaking specifically about the area of water. We’re moving forward — in a very proactive way, I think. We have a framework that we’re going to be taking to committee here. The Premier’s mentioned that. We have a broad land-use framework that we’re working on, and we intend to work with committee. We have a joint climate change committee that’s going to give us advice on how to move forward on this.
This is an issue that has work required to be done. We don’t have clear answers, but clearly, we recognize that there is an increase. There’s the JRP report that we’re waiting to come out with, in terms of the Mackenzie gas pipeline, and as we move forward with further developments, this issue is going to be becoming clearer and clearer. We have to sort out, as a government and as a Legislature, what’s the most appropriate step. I know the Member has very clear ideas. As the Member would respect and acknowledge, there is a wide range of opinions as well. We have to try to bring those together into one solid policy.
The residents and communities are actually doing quite a bit on this sort of thing, but we’re looking for some response to industry. The non-government organizations have shouldered the costs in the joint review process of the Mackenzie Gas Project. They are the ones who hired the economists to look at what the carbon-neutral approach would cost. And it’s quite modest, in the order of less than a 10 per cent increase in costs — 5 to 7 per cent. When is this government going to start playing that role and, instead of being open for business and subsidizing this industry, get some answers on what it would cost to make it responsible for development that benefits the local people?
Mr. Speaker, even Imperial Oil, from what I’ve been reading, is getting enormous pressure from its major shareholders to be more environmentally responsible. We recognize and we have to make sure that business does not get by on the backs of Northerners, that they acknowledge the impact of what they’re doing in terms of development. While it may not be a perfect system, we are moving more and more down that path to not only a recognition, but as I indicated to the Member, we’re going to be developing the policies with the help and guidance of the MLAs and the climate change committee, for example, of how best to do this.
Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister acknowledged Imperial, which, of course, is part of the largest profit-making machine in the world. Northerners are paying the cost once again. Our foundations are disintegrating. We’re losing our species. The polar bears are having problems in some areas, and there are much more dire predictions and so on. Will this Minister commit to looking at and aggressively pursuing some compulsory requirements for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by large industry?
I would be happy to commit to the Member that I will come forward, along with our Cabinet colleagues, with a paper that outlines those policy implications and the jurisdictional issues and lays out the landscape as we plan to move forward collectively here at the Legislature, and how can we best do that to address the issue that Mr. Bromley has raised.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
