Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As politicians we all must be impeccable with our words. Our residents listen closely to what we say and make personal and professional decisions based on what they hear in this House and statements quoted in the press. This is especially true for Ministers. When a Minister or one of his or her staff makes a statement to people of the Northwest Territories, those people take those statements at face value. As a result, there is significant value in thinking about the statement and understanding the ramifications of the words before making them public.
Unfortunately, from time to time incorrect statements are made by Ministers and/or their representatives, statements which only residents rely on in good faith and make decisions which ultimately hurt them, decisions they wouldn’t have made had they not received incorrect information from the GNWT. When people rely on incorrect statements from Ministers or their staff to their detriment, that Minister and department have a responsibility to work with that resident to mitigate the damage as much as possible.
Precedent has already been set. There was a significant flood in Hay River during the 2007-2008 fiscal year. After the flood a representative from MACA met with affected residents and provided them with some incorrect information indicating that many of them would be covered for flood repairs. These individuals relied on this incorrect information and made the repairs believing they would be reimbursed. Afterward they were told by MACA that they would not, in compliance with their policies and procedures, be reimbursed as originally promised.
Fortunately, the new appointed Minister of MACA, R.C. McLeod, recognized that these individuals relied on this information to their detriment, showed some common sense and compassion, and arranged for the promised reimbursements. This was the right thing to do and I imagine that MACA will be very clear on policy direction to residents in this area in the future.
Recently a similar situation has occurred. During a barren-ground caribou meeting on December 18, 2008, a senior ENR official informed attendees that their access to tags -- 750 in total -- would not change for the 2009 or the 2010 hunting seasons. These outfitters relied on this information and proceeded to book hunts for the 2010 season. Then the Minister put in the emergency measures cutting them off completely. As a result, outfitters who relied on the department’s information and commitments are facing significant financial challenges as a result of returning deposits which had already been spent as part of doing normal business. They would not have booked these hunts had ENR not indicated...
Mr. Abernethy, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
This situation was made worse by the fact that in November 2009 another senior ENR official was quoted in Above and Beyond indicating that caribou numbers for the NWT are going up. In addition, in October 2009 the Minister of ITI made several tourism-related statements indicating the value of outfitting in the NWT. These statements lent credibility to ENR’s earlier statements and increased the outfitters’ confidence that their tags would not be affected in 2010.
Given that these long-time, committed Northerners relied on this information in good faith, I believe that the Minister of ENR should show the same level of integrity as the Minister of MACA and come to some sort of financial agreement with these outfitters to mitigate the damage caused by the department’s bad information. It’s alright to admit making mistakes; it’s also good to do the right thing. I would like to see the Minister demonstrate that he values long-term Northerners and is willing to assist them when provided incorrect information from his department. At the appropriate time I will be asking some questions of the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
