Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to recognize today some members involved with the United Way. Tracy St. Denis is the chair; David Connelly, the past chair; Deb Ross, board member and GNWT campaign coordinator; and Craig Yeo, board member representing labour on the United Way NWT Campaign. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my husband in the gallery today. There was one of those silly little things on Facebook and it said the 10 names of the best husbands. Richard wasn’t on there, but William was. I’d like to recognize William Richard Groenewegen today.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Rick Groenewegen, one of my constituents and a hardworking businessman in Hay River. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize people from the United Way board and thank them for all their considerable efforts, very successful efforts, as we heard earlier today from the Premier. The Weledeh constituents, of course, Tracey St. Denis, Mr. David Connelly and Craig Yeo. I know my colleagues will recognize Craig Yeo, a hardworking CA for four years in the building here. Welcome to them and all the other board members and people working on the United Way campaign.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Today I’d like to welcome my two Pages here from Nunakput, all the way from Paulatuk, Mr. James Wolki and Ms. Gloria Ruben. Also, I’d like to welcome Mr. Cam Innes and Tyler Pitzer who are some of my good friends who I worked up in Tuk with before coming here. Welcome to the House.
Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize all the visitors that we have in the gallery today. Specifically, I’d like to recognize a constituent of mine, Ms. Deborah Ross, and all of her hard work she puts into the United Way, as well as Mr. David Connelly, Mr. Craig Yeo, and the chairperson, Ms. Tracy St. Denis. Welcome to the House and thank you very much for, again, all the hard work you put into the United Way. I also want to recognize the gentleman from the Reach Group. Welcome to the House, also, to my friend Rick Groenewegen from Hay River.
I’d like to welcome all the visitors here in the public gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ITI. It has been noted that the Sahtu received, to date, $13 million from the royalties from the diamond mines here. There are mining opportunities in this area here and I want to look at opportunities for jobs, especially outside the Yellowknife region.
I want to ask the Minister, what ways are you helping to ensure Sahtu residents are prepared for opportunities in the mining sector, either in this area here or in the Sahtu region?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for the question. We have had some success in holding the Mining 101 course. We’ve had a number of these meetings in the Sahtu. Specifically, we’ve been in Fort Good Hope, Deline, Colville Lake, Tulita. We’ve also been to the community of Nahanni Butte and also into Norman Wells. We have to continue to promote mining as a means to economic success here in the Northwest Territories. In the Member’s riding we’ve had some success recently with Selwyn Chihong on the border with the Yukon. We’ve had discussions with those folks recently. That ore body does extend into the Northwest Territories and there is hope that that will be mined in the near future. We also have had some really good results from a stream sedimentary sampling program also on the border with the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, a high incidence of tungsten and gold. There are some real possibilities in the Member’s riding for mining. Our hope is that we get that education component in the communities started right now so that people can look to mining as a career choice.
I want to ask the Minister of ITI in regard to the Sahtu region. I’d like to look at some of the areas that we can explore with the Minister’s engagement with the communities to prepare community workers for training in the mining sector either in Selwyn, Howard’s Pass, MacTung or the DEMCO around Great Bear Lake.
Is the Minister looking at any type of training to prepare for these mining operations?
Mine training would be through Education, Culture and Employment. But what I can say is, unequivocally, any company we’ve talked to is really interested in a northern workforce and finding community members who are interested in working on their projects, and that’s what we’ve heard from companies. So there’s a real willingness of behalf of the companies to employ local people. We’ve heard that from everybody we’ve talked to. So, trying to identify people at the community level that are interested in getting the training and then getting them the training so that when the jobs come they are ready for them is the key to all of this. Thank you.
The people in the Northwest Territories, when they looked at the economic development, such as oil and gas, mining, traditional economy, the fishery industry, anywhere around the North they look at the projects with their eyes wide open and they look at the possibilities.
In regard to the mining sector in the Sahtu, is there a willingness on behalf of his department to look at a mining conference so we can look at the whole buffet sort of thing of what is involved with mining, getting our people ready, getting the region ready if we are to ever, ever get a road into those mines so we can start producing those mines like they do down south? Thank you.
The region has had a history of mining in the past. We certainly have favourable geology in the Member’s riding. If you get out into the mountains, again, near Selwyn Chihong and on the border near Tungsten and also further north, North American Tungsten has the MacTung Project as well. So there’s great opportunity there.
If the Member and the communities in the Sahtu would like us to look at having whether it’s a workshop or a program, I mentioned earlier the Mining 101 that we’ve put on in communities. We could try to ramp that up, and if there’s interest there in the Sahtu, we certainly would like to be there promoting the opportunities when it comes to the mining potential in the Sahtu. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is correct. In the research I have done, there’s world-class, high-grade potential mineral in the Sahtu. The challenge for us is we don’t have the infrastructure to extract it and develop the jobs. Out of interest in the 2013 youth report, the number one issue for the youth is they want jobs and that’s what I’m looking for.
So, with the Minister’s department, the Sahtu and the Chamber of Commerce, can we look at, within the life of this government, a mining conference that is proposed through his department? Would the Minister look at tabling it to see if we can get a mining conference so we can have more discussions on this type of area? Thank you.
We have to look at the availability of time. I think we’ve got six or seven months left here in the life of this government. I’d certainly like to see something happen in the Sahtu, and if it doesn’t happen during the life of this government it’s something we could include in the transition.
Again, I want to thank the Member for his interest in this. I’m a big believer in what the potential is in the Sahtu, not just in oil and gas but also in mining. Certainly, we could look at having something like a conference or a workshop in the Sahtu at some point in time and I think that is a good idea. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been a long budget process and, as I mentioned, one of the concerns that were brought up, talking to some people at the Skills for Success conference symposium that’s going on, were some of the barriers. One of them is housing. In Inuvik we do have a Blueberry Patch and I know it’s getting demolished, possibly this summer. I understand that that responsibility has shifted to the Housing Corporation from Public Works and Services.
I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation when he expects the demolition of the Blueberry Patch to start and finish. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan is to put a tender out and have the Blueberry Patch demolished this summer. Thank you.
I also understand that the Housing Corp will be taking over the responsibility for the land that the Blueberry Patch currently sits on. Has the Minister’s department decided or proposed what to build on that land?
As I mentioned, housing is a concern across all communities across the Northwest Territories, and if we are going to decentralize and start creating jobs and oil and gas kicks back up, we need some houses for residents and people who move up there.
I would like to ask the Minister what he is proposing to put on that land once the Blueberry Patch is demolished. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is a fairly significant amount of land. As far as what the plans are for it, I don’t think there are any concrete plans right now. Just the option of having that land available to us as we plan for future development will be huge. So there are no concrete plans in place right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know, in the Housing Corporation, it’s always hard to house people who are single. That might be an option, is to have a single-unit facility or also multi-family units that can be built. Moving forward, I know there is a long list of people on the housing list, people who are in market rental units.
Would the Minister be open to having a community consultation with key stakeholders as well as concerned residents on what we should be putting on that land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As always, we will have discussions with stakeholders. Again, we’ll come up with a plan of what we might like to see on that and then we’ll have some discussion with stakeholders, get input from them as well as some committee. Then we will determine the next steps after that. It’s a very significant amount of land and I think it will go a long way in helping us address some of our needs in Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everybody knows the Blueberry Patch was used for family housing units for the Aurora College.
Has the Minister been speaking with the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment on creating family units to replace these ones being demolished? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is another one of the discussions that we have had. There is some common ground here to house students who attend Aurora College in Inuvik. Many of them were living in the Blueberry Patch when it was determined that it was going to be demolished. They are all over town now in private market rentals. That’s another discussion that we will have. Again, once we formulate a plan, we will be sharing it with all stakeholders involved. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions for the Premier. The current low price of oil gives us an opportunity to develop alternatives. Money we are saving through lower fossil fuel prices must be invested to implement environmentally, economically and socially sustainable and responsible energy solutions.
I’m wondering, as lead on energy, what extra money from our fuel savings from reduced oil prices is the Premier allocating to exploring and implementing renewable energy solutions for our people and, thus, for our planet. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has pre-empted us. As we indicated at the second Energy Charrette, that is exactly what our intentions are – to invest in renewable and alternative forms of energy – and we will be rolling that out when our government responds to the recommendations of the second Energy Charrette. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That was four months ago, so we are anxiously awaiting that report. Fossil fuel companies and governments and, in fact, investors are confronted by the risk that many of the still-in-the-ground petrochemical reserves that count on balance sheets may never be recovered or realized. Burning more hydrocarbons is destroying the planet, as we know, and renewable energy is becoming more economically feasible daily, as we know.
Given the increasing likelihood that our fossil fuel reserves will be stranded because of economy and ecology, does this government have a plan B for our economy? If so, what is it? Mahsi.
We have a number of plans. We have laid out our Economic Opportunities Strategy. Certainly part of the plan will be, as I said, investing in alternative and renewable forms of energy, as was pointed out at the Energy Charrette. Unfortunately, we will have to continue to rely on diesel at least as backup or to provide for redundancy. Certainly, we are promoting development of our local economies and that was quite welcome, but we expect we will have to take more aggressive action to develop what the Member refers to as a plan B. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister’s comments. Unfortunately, he didn’t mention where most of our dollars are going and that’s plan A, which is the pursuit of fossil fuels, a very, very risky investment, getting riskier every day. The International Monetary Fund found that between directly lowered prices, tax breaks and uncompensated environmental damage, fossil fuel subsidies worldwide were over $1.9 trillion in 2011 or 8 percent of global government revenues, a huge drag on economy. The IMF’s solution to both economic and climate risk is simple: End fossil fuel subsidies and tax carbon. They add the recognition of the necessity for worldwide conversion to renewable.
What is the Premier doing to transfer subsidies – and, believe me, we are subsidizing our fossil fuel industries to the tune of many millions of dollars – from a dying energy sector to one with a future? Mahsi.
I believe there is some exaggeration there. I look around the Northwest Territories and I don’t see any drilling, I don’t see any oil and gas activities. I’m not sure what the Member is referring to when he’s talking about millions of dollars being invested in plan A. As a government, we have to keep the buildings heated, we have to make sure the lights stay on, and we will continue to do so while, at the same time, investing in alternative and renewable forms of energy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the subsidies, simply look at our infrastructure budget, as the public does, of course. Let me sum up here, Mr. Speaker. The use of fossil fuels threatens the basic systems that make our planet livable. Fossil fuel assets are rapidly becoming liabilities as renewables are becoming too competitive and carbon levels become too dangerous. Our economies can no longer bear the subsidies for fossil fuel extraction, and there is a growing local and international belief that rapid transition to renewable solves the problems of both the climate and economy.
My question is: When will the Premier join the progressive jurisdictions across the world and seriously begin our transition to sustainability and away from the destructive fossil fuel-based energy and economic policy track we’re on?
I don’t mind repeating myself many times. As I’ve said, we’re on track, we’re on schedule. The plan was for the government to respond to the Energy Charrette recommendations in May, at the same time we would identify investment in alternative and renewable forms of energy. At the same time, we are doing a tremendous amount in developing alternative sources of energy. We are the leaders in the country when it comes to biomass and other forms of renewable energy. I don’t think that should be discounted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I want to thank the Minister at the outset for the response to my oral question which he tabled yesterday, read into Hansard yesterday.
It doesn’t go all the way to answering some of the questions that I wanted to ask him last month, so I want to ask a few more.
One of the recommendations from the Information and Privacy Commissioner, in regards to access to information and protection of privacy legislation for municipalities, was that the government ought to consider a phased-in approach to implementing this particular legislation, that tax-based communities are probably better able to respond than non-tax-based communities.
I’d like to task the Minister, first of all, is that an option for the department? Will he and the department consider a phased-in approach to the implementation of legislation for municipalities? Thank you.
