Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. I want to ask the Minister of ITI questions for the people in the Sahtu region. What is this government doing to encourage the oil and gas activity in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is advancing work on the highway from Wrigley to Norman Wells, the next piece in the transportation corridor in the Mackenzie Valley. We have also broken ground on the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link and we will continue to try to find ways to inject some life into the economy in the Sahtu. Thank you.
The people also want to know what the government is doing to mitigate the operational cost of oil and gas activity. One of the people I did speak to said that if you had an all-weather road going into the Sahtu, you would cut down 30 percent of their operational expenses. That’s just one oil company. That is what some of the people in the Sahtu want to know. What are some of the things that this government is doing to lower the cost of business? Thank you.
One of the knocks against the NWT in developing our resources and attracting investment is our lack of infrastructure. We understand that, that’s why we are, again, advancing work on the Wrigley to Norman Wells highway. Again, a key piece of transportation infrastructure in this territory.
I mentioned earlier the Fibre Optic Link. We also have to…with the Premier’s announcement in Ottawa during NWT Days that we’re going to move forward with the corridor concept in the Mackenzie Valley for communications, transportation and energy. I think these things need to be thoroughly analyzed. Again, we’ve always had hope for the Mackenzie Gas Project, but maybe we need to shift our focus in other areas as well. So we haven’t given up hope that one day Mackenzie gas will get to market, and we’re watching quite closely what’s happening in British Columbia with LNG opportunities for that province. Our hope is that Mackenzie gas will find its way to market sooner rather than later.
Some of the people that have written to me asked what is the government doing in regard to the anti-fracking movement that seems to be gaining some, rallying around support for a moratorium or banning fracking in the North. So they’re asking what’s going on here, what is the government doing to deal with this, because it could be the death of our economic development in the Sahtu region.
We’ve developed an Oil and Gas 101 program in our visiting Sahtu communities. During the month of February we’re going to engage with communities on this program. In fact, staff were in Norman Wells and Tulita two weeks ago and it’s my understanding that those sessions went extremely well. They’re also planning on going into the communities of Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake later this month and we’re working collaboratively with the Sahtu partnership on this effort, this initiative in the Sahtu.
We are also in the process of developing hydraulic fracturing regulations to ensure that activity in the territory is regulated in an appropriate fashion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time also, people want to know that since activity is not up to where we want it to be, is there opportunity, from the Minister’s point of view, to work with other departments in regard to a planning session to train our young workers to be ready when the activity happens so that they have qualified, skilled labour ready for the oil rigs and other spinoffs due to oil and gas exploration. Thank you.
Now is certainly the time. There is a pause in the activity in the central Mackenzie Valley. The time is now to train people, get them ready for when the jobs and the work come back and we will continue to work with ECE and Transportation to ensure that people do have opportunities to get trained for the oil jobs when they return. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
