Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two documents here, both from Statistics Canada. One is the percentage of residents who smoke in the Northwest Territories, 2011, at 34.9 percent; and smoking of 2012, at 35.8 percent.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. I wish to table the report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly – 2014: Child and Family Services – Department of Health and Social Services and Health and Social Services Authorities.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 6, 2014, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the government identify at least two priority communities for new nursing and/or policing services and provide those services within the 2014-15 fiscal year; and further, that by December 31, 2014, the government completes long-term plans working with community governments and including timelines for implementation to expand police and nursing services into the communities now lacking those services; and furthermore, that the government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Mr. Blake.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 6, 2014, I will move that Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, be read for the first time.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills.
Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
By the authority given to me as the Speaker, by Motion 10-17(5), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond its daily hour of adjournment to consider business before the House.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order this afternoon. I could read that list of documents, but I think I’ll just say there are numerous items before the committee today. I’d like to ask what is the wish of the committee. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we do have a lot in front of us. We wish to continue with Tabled Document 22-17(5), NWT Main Estimates 2014-2015. We’d like to start with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, then Public Works and Services, then the Executive, and then the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is committee agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you. We will commence with that after a brief break.
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I will call Committee of the Whole to order. We are reviewing Tabled Document 22-17(5). Next on our list is Environment and Natural Resources. Committee agreed?
Agreed.
Minister Miltenberger, do you have any opening comments?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The 2014-2015 Main Estimates for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources propose total operational expenses of $87.5 million for the upcoming year. This represents a 22 percent or a $16 million increase from last year’s budget primarily for increased program and services due to devolution.
The mandate of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is to promote and support the sustainable use and development of our natural resources and to protect, conserve and enhance the environment for the social and economic benefit of all residents.
This mandate will be further strengthened as of April 1, 2014, when the department assumes responsibility for the management of onshore water resources.
During the 2014-15 fiscal year, activities within the department will increase to meet our enhanced role in the broader regulatory environment, particularly in the areas of water, conservation, environmental monitoring and stewardship.
A major expense is the creation of two new divisions for the department with $10.7 million allocated for the water resources division and $8.4 million for conservation, assessment and monitoring.
The water resources division will ensure the water resources stewardship and management objectives of our government are met in an integrated and timely manner.
Division staff will be responsible for providing technical advice to Northwest Territories boards that issue water licences; coordinating the process for ministerial approval of both Type A and B water licences; ensuring knowledge to make water resource management decisions and develop water resources programs is current and relevant to the Northwest Territories; and continuing the effective implementation of the Water Stewardship Strategy guided by the principles of ecosystem-based management within watersheds and the use of the best available scientific, local and traditional knowledge.
The Taiga Environmental Lab, which offers services to public and private enterprises throughout the North to help support environmental decision-making, will be managed by the water resources division.
The new conservation, assessment and monitoring division will ensure the environment is seriously considered in regional land use planning and the review of proposed development in the NWT.
Division staff will lead the development of a territorial ecological representative network; oversee departmental participation in environmental impact assessment and regulatory processes as well as regional land use planning.
The department also assumes responsibility for the NWT Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program to ensure legal and land claim requirements of cumulative impact monitoring is undertaken in the NWT on April 1st. The program administers $3.4 million to coordinate, support and conduct monitoring-related initiatives in the NWT communities, which incorporate both scientific and traditional knowledge.
Besides the positions transferring from the federal government, four new positions are being proposed for the department. Two positions will be going to the Sahtu to help deal with the workload from increased oil and gas exploration activity. The other two positions will be assisting in negotiations of transboundary water agreements with Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
We will continue to work collaboratively with Aboriginal governments, communities and the public to protect our environment and ensure the wise and sustainable use of our resources.
For example, the department will work with Aboriginal governments, communities and stakeholders to implement the new Wildlife Act and NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan; negotiate and implement bilateral transboundary water agreements with Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan; provide support for wildlife co-management regimes, regional land use planning and sustainable forest management; and advance efforts to deal with climate change adaptation and mitigation.
We will also continue to build partnerships with other parties involved in land and water management decisions, including Aboriginal governments, regulatory and resource management authorities and other government departments. These partnerships will support further integration, collaboration and sharing of data and information needed to assess and make quality land and water use decisions.
I will touch briefly on some of the other major activities planned for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
The department and the Canadian Water Network are working in partnership to develop a practical community-based cumulative effects monitoring framework, with participation from the Slave River Delta Partnership and researchers from the University of Saskatchewan.
We will also continue to work with communities and other departments on community source water protection planning and community-based monitoring to ensure our communities have clean drinking water.
Caribou remain an important issue for residents and implementation of the Barren Ground Caribou Management Strategy is a priority for the department.
During the next fiscal year, we will be working with our partners on management plans, monitoring the recovery of the herds and improving harvest reporting.
Work has started with co-management partners, industry and stakeholders to develop a range management plan for the Bathurst caribou. This work will continue through 2014-15.
Funding of $425,000 will be used to increase monitoring of Boreal caribou to comply with the National Recovery Strategy for Woodland Caribou and to develop a range plan for the NWT population.
ENR’s role in strengthening and diversifying our economy is to promote and support sustainable development in the Northwest Territories.
Our role in this process, as of April 1st, is to coordinate departmental participation in the environmental assessment process, provide advice on measures to be taken to protect or mitigate impacts on the environment and ensure the measures have been taken.
We are also responsible for assessing, monitoring and mitigating impacts of development on our forests, waters, wildlife and wildlife habitat, which requires good and accurate baseline data.
This is particularly important in the Sahtu region where more than $650,000 will be used to deal with the increased oil and gas exploration activity and to coordinate regional environmental monitoring and research on surface water, groundwater, wildlife and wildlife habitat in the area.
The development of sustainable forest economies provides opportunities to build capacity and local employment in many of our communities. ENR is helping communities realize forest industry opportunities through local forest management agreements.
We plan to have forest management agreements in place with Fort Resolution and Fort Providence by the end of this fiscal year. Implementation of these agreements includes timber harvest and business planning.
Increased funding of almost $2 million, provided through the Energy Action Plan, will be used to support and promote the use of alternative energy sources, such as biomass, solar and wind, to help reduce energy costs and greenhouse emissions in our communities.
ENR, with the addition of experienced staff transferring to the Department from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, will continue to pursue an aggressive agenda to ensure the sustainable use of our natural resources and protection of our environment.
We will remain diligent in our efforts to work collaboratively with Aboriginal governments, management partners and all Northerners to protect our environment and ensure the wise and sustainable use of our resources. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Do you have witnesses to bring into the House?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Committee agreed?
Agreed.
Sergeant-at-Arms, I’ll ask you to escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Mr. Miltenberger, I’ll ask you to introduce your witnesses please.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have Mr. Ernie Campbell, deputy minister of Environment and Natural Resources; and Ms. Nancy Magrum, director of finance and admin services. Thank you.
Thank you. Welcome, witnesses. I will now open the floor to general comments on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to ask a few quick questions here. I appreciated the Minister’s opening remarks, although at lightning speed. I read every third or fourth paragraph as he was whipping along.
The first one was I wasn’t clear what role the Minister has in decision-making in the various environmental review processes for land, water and resources. I see where he says the department plays a role, but where does the Minister enter into the decisions?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The term "responsible Minister" has a number of definitions to it. In some cases the Minister themselves will be directly responsible in terms of signing documents off or being involved in the process, in other cases, depending on what the project is, the responsible Minister authorities are delegated down into the organization where the technical people and other trained individuals carry out those functions. So we will continue to play the role that we’ve had in the past, but it will be elevated from what has been described as an ancillary role to now a leadership role along with the Minister of ITI and the Minister of Lands as we look at this development assessment process, the one window approach, and once again, depending on what project comes through the door, we will define what role we specifically play. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister. For example, type A and B water licences coordinating the process for Ministerial approval. What exactly does that mean and what role does this Minister play?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Deputy Minister Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Type A and type B water licences, as the responsible Minister, yes, we do work with the land and water boards there on the issuing of those licences. Ultimately we are the responsible Minister under the MVRMA in those areas, especially when the projects are larger or projects where these applications go to a hearing. There we work with, of course, the land and water boards on type A and type B water licences.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I understand when the Minister references Northwest Territories boards, he’s referring to the federal boards. I know our Premier says we don’t have anything to do with federal boards, so I shouldn’t be talking like that, but in this case obviously we are the final decision-maker for recommendations from the water boards, such as the Mackenzie Land and Water Board. Is that correct?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Miltenberger.
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Thanks to the Minister. When the Minister says the new conservation assessment and monitoring division will ensure the environment is seriously considered and regional land use planning and the review of proposed developments, that’s sort of sounding like Alberta. They seriously consider things and typically reject the environmental concerns. As the Minister knows, they’ll let other jurisdictions look after Boreal caribou and the Jack Pine Mine and so on; these are all acceptable in the interests of economic development.
I just would like to have the Minister define what he means by seriously consider, the environment will be seriously considered in these exercises. Thank you.
Thank you. One of the key intents for the Government of the Northwest Territories deciding to become its own regulator is that we’d have a unique political environment and if we look at some critical framing pieces that have been referred to in this House by the Premier and other Ministers, the Land Use and Sustainability Framework, the work we’ve laid out in the Wildlife Act, the Water Stewardship Strategy, the approach that we are taking with the Employment Strategy and the Mineral Strategy all within the broad framing document and the principles, particularly the Land Use Sustainability Framework, make it very clear that we are deadly serious about our concern about the environment, the balance between development and protection of the environment and doing the things necessary to achieve that balance and have that guide us as some fundamental founding principles on how we intend to do business. We have been doing business and we want to continue to do business, but with more of a leadership role after April 1st. Thank you.
Thank you. We’re getting there. I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I would say the world has balanced itself into a box, a boxed canyon if you will, and I guess I’d ask if the Minister would agree with that on many issues. So, it’s all in that expression of balancing. We have balanced ourselves to death in many cases and we know that we’re losing species at an untold rate and so on.
The Minister notes that we’re responsible for assessing, monitoring, mitigating impacts of development on our forests, water, as well as wildlife habitat, but he doesn’t mention the climate and that’s probably the most significant event that’s affecting our people. So I’d appreciate any perspectives from the Minister that would assure me that in fact the balance will be tipped in favour of preserving our ecosystems that support life rather than to support industrial activity at the cost of life.
Thank you. If we were to take out the Land Use and Sustainability Framework and go through the first few pages where we lay out the intent and principles that are guiding us on the importance of the balance that the Member talks about, if we look at the exhausting amount of work we’ve done on the Water Stewardship Strategy we continue to do in terms of its implementation and how its guided us with our transboundary negotiations with the southern jurisdictions. If we look at the exhaustive amount of work we’ve done to develop a process to, in fact, get the Wildlife Act written and completed and the content of the Wildlife Act, I think the Member should draw some considerable comfort from those pieces of work, that legislation, those fundamental strategies that have reflected the intent and direction and drive of this Assembly and all the five Assemblies that I’ve been here and I would suggest all of the Assemblies before that. Thank you.
I appreciate the Minister’s comments and his commitments and dedication here. I think he has done a lot of good work. It’s just that I see this government, of course, pursuing oil and gas as fast as we can and as much as we can, subsidizing it and so on.
What’s the Minister’s role in ensuring that the development of oil and gas stays within what we know are sustainable limits?
Thank you. There are two key issues that we as a Legislature, we as a territory have to come to grips with after April 1st in particular, and those are, and I’ve said this a number of times already, those are two key issues of pace and intensity tied to cumulative impact and we have to make sure, as we move forward, that we do it in a very careful, thoughtful way that keeps those types of concerns in mind tied into the cumulative impact and the sustainability issues, and looking not only for today but down the road as far as we can see so that those that come after us, our descendants, are going to be well served by the decisions we make today. There are some things that are not finalized, and I would suggest that the issue of pace and intensity of development are two things, as we look at life after April 1st, that are going to require our discussion and attention.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. General comments. Mr. Yakeleya.
Just a quick comment here, Mr. Chair. The issue I have with this department would be the responsibility in regard to our water management and the role that the government is going to assume after April 1st. But even as we speak, Imperial Oil has applied to renew its water licence in the Norman Wells operation. It will be a 10-year licence.
I want to ask what type of role the government is going to play in the process of Imperial Oil seeking the renewal of their water licence from the Mackenzie River that has been done in the past. Their 10-year licence expired so they are seeking another 10-year water licence. The water will be, of course, taken from the Mackenzie River. Doing the calculations, roughly estimating that they’re going to, over the 10-year period, request about three billion litres of water from the Mackenzie for a 10-year period for their operation. Once it goes through the water treatment processing plant in Norman Wells, they are going to be putting 1.5 billion litres of water back into the Mackenzie.
I want to ask this department, through its Water Management Strategy, for the quality of the water that’s going back into the Mackenzie River, is there any thought of working with the community of Fort Good Hope to look at a water monitoring station close to the community, because their drinking water comes out of the Mackenzie. I know this is going through the process now in the Sahtu and for the community to be concerned of the quality of their water and it not only stops in Fort Good Hope, it goes down to Tsiigehtchic and down to the Beaufort Sea.
Is there any type of insurance or some type of plan in place that the community could look at a water monitoring station? They have been asking for some time in light of Imperial Oil putting back 1.5 billion litres of water.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.
