Debates of October 25, 2004 (day 27)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Honourable Brendan Bell, the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and the caretaker of our environment. Mr. Speaker, as I referred in my statement, we are engaged in two processes regarding the cleanup of the two mines in Yellowknife. Both of them are underway under quite different circumstances. I would ask my first question, Mr. Speaker, in relation to the Giant Mine situation and what I understand to be a jurisdictional dispute between ourselves and the federal government over who has responsibility and accountability for the cleanup of that property. The last time I believe we talked about this, the Minister was going to talk to his federal counterpart to see how we could progress. Has any progress been made? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated, I was able to meet with the Minister of DIAND in Ottawa on September 1st and had a fair bit of discussion around the cleanup at Giant Mine. We discussed the issues in-depth and I was very impressed, he was well briefed on the file. He indicated that it was a priority for the department to see this cleanup move forward. The last time I stood in the House and answered the Member’s questions in this regard, he had some concern about the level of dialogue, I believe, between our officials and DIAND officials. I am getting weekly updates from my staff; we are having almost weekly meetings with our staff and their staff. Our deputy minister of the department has just recently met with the regional director general of DIAND to go through these. There are several outstanding issues of liability and responsibility on surface. Who is responsible for what is something that continues to nag. I have given direction to our staff to try to negotiate a bit of a cap in terms of financial exposure on our part so that we can move forward on cleaning this mess up. I think if we decide that we want to resolve all of the potential outstanding liability and responsibility issues, we will be here for a long time.

I would rather see us start to clean this up and work those issues through as they arise, but the key to us being able to do this is having some understanding of what our potential financial exposure will be and we are working on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are we going into this with a bottom line of some kind? The Minister has indicated that there might be a financial line there, but there are other things about the timing and the standards that will be set. Are these things also part of our negotiating approach? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Thank you, we are discussing all of those issues and we do, in our minds, have a financial bottom line. I don’t want to disclose that here, obviously. We are negotiating these issues with the federal government, but clearly we see, by and large, a federal responsibility. Obviously, underground is entirely a federal responsibility, they have been the mining regulator of record for the life of that mine. On the surface there is some debate. We want to move this forward quickly. DIAND is proposing to come forward with a project description and an A and R plan. I think they will do that this fall and early spring. We are going to participate in that. Really now it’s timing, it is the timing that is imminent here. The real concern that we have, outside of this liability and responsibility question which I am willing to continue to work on, but to some degree park for the time being in order that we might get some sort of financial agreement, because I believe the most important thing is for us to start cleaning this thing up, sooner rather than later, and in order to do that we have to set aside some of these disputes. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Mr. Speaker, the process going on on the other side of town at the Miramar property is quite different. I think there is more substance to it, in that under, I believe, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, there is a process by which the cleanup of that property has been broken down into, I understand, eight different components. There is a process underway to evaluate and approve. However, the public access to this process is quite limited. Can the Minister provide some information on the progress of that cleanup approval process? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicates, the A and R plan under the terms of the federal water licence is under review by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board. They have formed a working group to review the draft plan put forward by the mine, by Miramar.

We are sitting on that working group and we also indicated our support for some public process. They have had public meetings and hearings on the draft A and R plan. It is my understanding that Miramar has now taken some of that input and the recommendations from the working group. They have taken that away and are revising portions of their A and R plan and are proposing to come back before the water board with that revised plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Short supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Mr. Speaker, in news reports last week there was indication that the mine has missed some critical deadlines in this process. I won’t go into the detail here, of course, but I would like to ask the Minister if our government is taking any notice of this and what pressures are we bringing to bear on either the process, or DIAND or the company to comply with rules that really have already been in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 292-16(3): Responsibility For Cleanup Of Giant Mine

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We believe that Miramar is out of compliance with their water licence because of the delays and, as a member of the working group, we were involved, obviously, when the chairperson of that group wrote a letter to Miramar Con Mine to advise them that they were in fact, in our minds, out of compliance with their water licence by not meeting the deadlines. We are waiting for a response from the company, but obviously we see it as being of paramount importance that we get some progress here, and are waiting for Miramar to respond. Thank you.