Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to use this occasion to do a quick follow-up to both a statement and some oral questions I had for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Some time ago I was asking the Minister about an issue, which is abandoned gas stations here in Yellowknife and certainly throughout the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the issue really comes down to this: that gas stations, for whatever reason they are closed, are left as public eyesores and certainly the potential for an environmental mess being there is quite high. So, Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: when there is no intent to reopen these abandoned gas stations -- if I may describe them that way -- would he look at creating regulations or rules around this to have to come up with an environmental remediation plan to ensure that they don’t turn into toxic sites? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, we have been looking at this issue and recognize the policy and legislative framework has some gaps in it. It’s not as strong as it could be, so we are going to be looking at how we bring forward regulations that will allow us to close those loopholes and make a tighter framework. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, may I say I certainly appreciate the answer from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, when can we expect some type of adoption of regulations or plans to recognize this particular problem? I certainly see it as an issue that we don’t need to wait for a contaminated site to cause problems and set off alarms. Mr. Speaker, I would certainly like to hear from the Minister his opinion and, certainly, objective of the department as to when they hopefully will have this plan in place to update the regulations. Thank you.
We assembled an interdepartmental working group to look at this. We hope that by later this year we will be able to come forward with a plan for next steps. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, since raising this issue some time ago, I have had a number of people express certain support for this type of issue. Again, they see two things, the land and gas station looks like an eyesore. The second issue was highlighted earlier today, is the fact that the potential for an environmental risk is certainly there.
Mr. Speaker, hopefully this will be the final question on this issue, because I think the Minister is certainly addressing it. Is the Minister open to public opinion on this? Is there a possibility of raising awareness, of looking for some ideas on how to fairly address this problem going forward throughout the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
