Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural resources. We all know that we have an extraordinary high cost of living in the Northwest Territories. Yet, even though we are sitting on some of the best fresh water in the world here, we continue to import, in little clear bottles, tons of water. I don’t know how many millions of bottles or hundreds of thousands of bottles. I don’t have those statistics with me today. But as the Minister responsible for the stewardship of our environment, what is this department doing to discourage people from consuming bottled water? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’re spending millions of dollars to make sure that communities have good potable water. We have recycling to encourage people to return their containers and they’ve been going down south. There are abilities there for communities to pass bylaws about water. There would be an ability for this Legislature to send out the message that we’re not going to have bottled water at any of our functions.
The Member raised a lot of the very critical statistics in terms of the impact and cost of energy for bottled water. I agree with her that we have some of the best water in the world and it’s puzzling when you go to communities and you see water brought in from Ontario or from...(inaudible). So those are some of the things that we are doing and some things that can be done. Thank you.
The department, I don’t know what department launched this campaign, but there was a Drop the Pop campaign because of the high sugar content in pop and soft drinks and the harm that that is bringing to people’s health. Has the Minister ever contemplated some type of similar campaign to drop the bottled water?
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, we here in the Legislative Assembly do not use bottled water anymore, but I don’t think people are aware. I really don’t think the awareness is there, because why would people spend the kind of money that it costs to ship bottled water into the Northwest Territories when our water is better, and a lot of the bottled water just comes straight out of a tap anyway and probably doesn’t even meet the scrutiny that our standards for drinking water does. Has the Minister ever contemplated a campaign to discourage people from importing and drinking bottled water?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of all the things on the to-do list, the answer would be, regrettably at this point, no. Thank you.
I would think that even through our education system and throughout schools, there would be a ready avenue to affect the thinking and the knowledge of young people on this very important topic. I know in the schools, too, there has been a campaign to get away from junk food and unhealthy beverages. Would the Minister see collaborating with the Department of Education on such a campaign to be an easy and perhaps cost-effective way to get the message out to our younger citizens about the unnecessary consumption of bottled water? Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. I think that has potential. As well, as I indicated in my early answer, the municipalities have the authority, as well, in their jurisdictions to pass the bylaws about if there is going to be bottled water allowed or not at public events and those types of things. I will talk to my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess to some extent even speaking about this in the Chamber is some way of creating some public awareness. Mr. Speaker, it’s my impression that with the Beverage Recycling Program, it’s a bit of a conflicted message. People say if I buy this lovely case of 36 bottles of water in plastic bottles, I am recycling those so I am doing something really good for the environment. But it’s a bit of a double standard, a bit of a mixed message. A lot of the beverage containers that we bring in here we probably shouldn’t have them in the first place. Is there any opportunity through the recycling of the Beverage Container Program that we want people to bring back beverage bottles, but we don’t even want them to use them in the first place? Is there an opportunity through that program that already exists to deter people from drinking beverages in small containers? Thank you.
In fact, we are soon going to be processing and recycling our 100 millionth container in the very near future. The issue is to encourage people to bring back the containers. I agree with the Member that there is possibly an opportunity to look at a stronger message about not drinking bottled water at all in conjunction with the communities’ education and health to promote the benefits of drinking local water. I will pursue that with my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
