Debates of October 19, 2006 (day 11)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. In the area of development and regulatory matters, the Northwest Territories does not have a great score card in the industry of mineral and oil and gas exploration, Mr. Chair. We often hear the statistic quoted that Alberta, on an annual basis, processes hundreds of applications for exploration of natural resources and, yet, a number of approvals here in the Northwest Territories, basically you can count them on a couple of hands.

The major deficiency that’s been identified, a chronic deficiency, has been the lack of capacity in the regulatory boards established under the Mackenzie Valley Resources Act. Getting appointments to this board has been a chronic problem for our government, Mr. Speaker. We have allocated, as the GNWT, a number of seats on these boards and we have had some difficulty of late getting the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, who has the duty to appoint, to listen to our nominations. We have had refusal by the Minister of Northern Affairs to accept our appointments and now, with at least one of these vacancies running up 10 months, it certainly is easy to understand why the resource exploration and development industry sees the Northwest Territories as not a very attractive place to do business. At the real front end, we can’t even process the paperwork. Getting the nominees on this board and having our voice at this critical decision-making point is an essential part of the way we do business. Mr. Speaker, I think we are being denied that opportunity by a Minister in Ottawa who's got some other agenda other than our best interests, which he has a duty to represent, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause