Agreed.
Okay, we’re going to go to Environment and Natural Resources. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, we’ll go to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources to see if he has any witnesses he wants to bring into the Chamber.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, could you please escort the witnesses into the House please.
Minister Miltenberger, if you could please introduce your witness to the House.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Mr. Ernie Campbell, deputy minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Campbell, welcome back to the House. Good to see you again. Committee, we are on Environment and Natural Resources and we’re going to open up the floor to general comments.
Detail.
I’m hearing detail, committee. Good. We’re going to skip 11-2, and I’m going to get committee to go to 11-4. Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, corporate management, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments. Any comments?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 11-6, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, wildlife, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $335,000. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, just one question. This past August the Minister and I and the deputy minister were up in Deline on Great Bear Lake, and we certainly enjoyed the time there, and also we had the opportunity to be on the river and check the fish and the wildlife and the Great Bear Lake, and went on the Bear River and made sure everything was copasetic there with the people there. However, we were using a wildlife officer’s somewhat questionable boat there that seemed unsuitable for that lake. Maybe it was suitable for a river, but that lake there was quite… I’m not too sure if it was a good fit for that type of operation for Great Bear Lake. I want to ask the Minister if there are any plans for the future infrastructure in regard to helping out with the operations of that department’s office in the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. For that we’ll go to Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The boat that the Member references is actually targeted for replacement for not 2014-15 but for 2015-16. However, I have in the last two days had discussions with the regional superintendent in the Sahtu on the patrol boat that’s identified for 2014-15 for Norman Wells, and we are looking to do a switch with those two communities and have the patrol boat for the 2014-15 year that’s identified for Norman Wells go to Deline.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Yakeleya.
That’s good enough for me. Thank you.
Committee, we’re on 11-6, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, wildlife, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $335,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We’re going to 11-9, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, forest management, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $1.770 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, 11-13, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, environment, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $130,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. If I can get committee to return to 11-2 for the department summary. Environment and Natural Resources, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $2 million. Mr. Yakeleya.
Just on this question here, I may be ruled out of line or order here. I want to ask about the infrastructure on the baseline studies. Has there been any type of monitoring from the department on the areas around the Sahtu that are going to do some oil and gas activity, on the air monitoring quality, the water monitoring? Is there any type of infrastructure that’s going in next year to help us with our decision on the oil and gas activity? I’ll just leave that in your judgment, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Yakeleya, that’s fair. Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are working through the Environmental Studies Research Fund, which is funded in part by industry, to look at baseline information for wildlife as well as baseline information as we do groundwater mapping. There is, in fact, a workshop going to be held in Norman Wells in November, and we’ve applied for money and we see this as an ongoing process that’s going to take some time. As well, industry has indicated a great interest in sharing all the information that they have acquired over the year as part of their various environmental assessment review of their projects.
I appreciate that, and I appreciate the update from the Minister. I want to inquire into if there is any type of infrastructure going there in terms of the monitoring of the quality of the air in and around the area as well as looking forward for the oil and gas resources.
In addition to the people and the resources we already have on the ground, we are also, as part of our community based water monitoring strategy that we’re rolling out across the North, putting in that capacity and working with communities to have that capacity both in terms of the equipment to do the monitoring as well as the ability to use the equipment that is being put in. We’re looking at making sure all those pieces are linked.
I appreciate that, again, from the Minister. It sure helps me with questions I have from back home and from my people in regard to the initiatives some of the staff from ENR are going to do up in the Sahtu region, because we’re at the critical point of entering into possibly a huge oil and gas development in the future.
My last question will be this to the Minister, and it has to do with the wildlife, and we’re looking at the wildlife in the mountains west of Norman Wells and it’s close to the oil and gas exploration points of interest. Is the Minister looking at any type of monitoring on the impacts of sheep in the mountains because of the noise activity and possibly some of the air quality, just so that we have all our bases covered? I say this because Doh T’oi in our language means sheep nests. That’s where the mothers go to have their young, and we certainly don’t want to add disruption to that natural process that these animals have. Doh T’oi is just like the maternity ward at Stanton Hospital, that’s where all the mothers go and we want to make it as quiet as possible and there’s no disruption and there’s no after-effect as to how their young ones are going to be developing with our sheep here. That’s an important animal to the Sahtu people and it has special provisions in their land claims on the sheep there. That’s on the infrastructure. We’ll see how we would… I can ask that question, I guess, and we’ll get an answer.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Just touching on the verge of monitoring and operations, so we’ll allow Mr. Campbell to respond to that.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through our forced growth, they are linked to the Environmental Studies Research Fund. We also have $200,000 that was identified for baseline studies for wildlife in the central Mackenzie, so we will be looking at a number of species there with that monitoring program.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Yakeleya.
I do appreciate the discretion on my question, and I will keep it to infrastructure. This is my last question here on the infrastructure that the Minister is going to be looking at. I’m asking for the infrastructure requirements to measure… Again, it has to do with the air quality, the measure of the greenhouse gas emissions, what type of infrastructure is going to be done in the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. For that we’ll go to Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For my final answer, we have an air monitoring station in Norman Wells. As things develop and expand, of course, we are going to take a look at the capacity of the station and ensure that it has the capacity to measure all the necessary criteria on qualities of the air so that we can ensure and deal with all of the issues tied to the development. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s my final question.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Committee, we are on 11-2, department summary. Environment and Natural Resources, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $2.235 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Does committee agree we have finished consideration and concluded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources?
Agreed.
Thank you. I would like to thank Mr. Campbell for joining us this evening. If I can get the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber. Thank you to the Minister.
Committee, noting the clock, I will now rise and report progress.
I will call the House back to order. Before I call the report of Committee of the Whole, I have been informed that you would like to do some more work to consider matters before Committee of the Whole. By authority given to me as Speaker, by Motion 1-17(4), I hereby place you back in Committee of the Whole to consider business before the House until such time as you are ready to report, with Mr. Dolynny in the chair.
I would like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Does committee want to continue with the Legislative Assembly?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Mr. Speaker, Jackie Jacobson, do you have any witnesses that you would like to bring into the House, please?
