Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to direct my questions today to the Minister of ITI, and it goes back to my Member’s statement on the delays in the Joint Review Panel public hearings and their final report. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI if this government had any input into the terms of reference for the Joint Review Panel.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our previous Minister — I think it’s two governments ago — was at the forefront in advocating that we take a joint review panel approach. It was felt that going through regulatory review involving 13 boards and agencies would take too long, and as such, we advocated a joint review panel approach.
I appreciate the Minister’s comments about taking too long. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken had we gone through 13. It seems even with the one, we’re still taking a long time.
I did ask the Minister and he did give me a response to my question, but I don’t think it was an answer. I asked him if this government had any input into the terms of reference for the Joint Review Panel.
We did review the terms of reference and we did have input. For those areas that are under the Government of the Northwest Territories’ responsibilities, we specifically dealt with those as well.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that. I found that was an answer to the question that I had posed.
I would also like to ask the Minister: do we contribute any funding to the Joint Review Panel?
The Government of the Northwest Territories doesn’t specifically contribute to the operations of the Joint Review Panel. Where we spend money is in making sure that we have the people and the resources to develop the positions that are taken by the Government of the Northwest Territories in any interventions, also in reviewing the interventions of other groups and agencies that appear in front of the Joint Review Panel.
Final supplementary, Mr. Robert McLeod.
I thank the Minister for that. I’d like to ask the Minister if the Minister’s office is made aware of any delays or extensions to the hearing process, and has he communicated to the Joint Review Panel our displeasure at the extensions and delays? Thank you.
We have been in discussions on a number of occasions with Mr. Neil McCrank, who is reviewing the regulatory process on behalf of the federal government. We’ve also had discussions with Minister Prentice and his point man on oil and gas for the Northwest Territories, Mr. David Hudson.
We recognized early on that the writing of the report of the panel could be facing delays, because there was only a four-month window for the report to be written. We expected that the April report would likely be pushed back, and that has come to pass.
But the main issue was how do you try to speed up a panel that has held hearings and has had input. How do you speed it up without being seen to interfere with the proceedings of the panel? So that was the dilemma. Certainly, our Premier has made comments that he would like to see the process speed up, and certainly we would like to see that happen as well. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
