Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the issue of hydraulic fracturing, not unlike my good colleague to my left, Ms. Bisaro, and the concerns from the public.
One of the concerns from the public, and I certainly see it as an issue as an individual MLA, has been why have we not had the courage to just go straightforward and ask the question to Northerners: Is hydraulic fracturing appropriate for the Northwest Territories? Have that dialogue, understand and educate ourselves as to what the pros and cons are of it, and then step forward and work on regulations if given the, say, good guidance, authority, or at least the direction and suggestion, if that is appropriate for the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We worked long and hard to get our Devolution Agreement with the federal government. We also made a decision to regulate the oil and gas industry here in the Northwest Territories ourselves. Had we not made that decision, the industry would be regulated from Calgary by the National Energy Board, and Members on the other side of the House would not have the opportunity to question anybody and our government wouldn’t have opportunity to influence policy or direction on regulations. That would be left up to the National Energy Board of Canada.
What we have in front of us is an opportunity, and now Northerners and this government have the opportunity.
I want to thank the Member and the Regular Members for their help in helping us learn as much as we can about this process. We spent the last four years learning about the process of hydraulic fracturing. We’re moving forward with the process to develop draft regulations. We’ve heard from Northerners on important issues, water quality, air quality, disclosure. We’re working on all of those things, and it’s because of the work of the standing committee and the Regular Members and the people we’ve talked to around the Northwest Territories that we continue to move in that direction. We believe we can manage the resources that we have here in the Northwest Territories ourselves, and we intend to do just that.
Largely, I don’t necessarily disagree with much of what the Minister had said, but I still think we’ve missed our moral compass on this particular issue, which is there’s a decision on how to do fracking, not a decision as to should we do fracking. I welcome that from the NEB, and I welcome the authority we’ve gained, but what is stopping the department from actually just getting out there to ask that basic building block question?
You have to have a solid foundation before you build a house. Let us ask the question and have the courage to ask the question: Should fracking happen in the Northwest Territories, yes or no?
On April 1, 2014, this government made a commitment to the people of the Northwest Territories to devolve and then evolve. We have been at this for just over a year, it is an evolution process. We are continuing to work on a process, and I know the Member is saying we should ask that question right up front. The process isn’t even halfway through. Yesterday in this House I committed to giving us as much time as we need. We are going to take to the end of August to get public comment.
We are going to go through this process, and Members on that side of the House seem to want to pre-empt that entire process and ask that question. Let us finish the work that we start, then we can ask that question.
In response to some of the other comments I heard from Ms. Bisaro, she said we’re going to do this at any cost. We are not going to use the process of hydraulic fracturing at any cost, and I never said that in this House and I have never said that publicly, so I take offence to some of the comments from the Regular Members that we’re going to do this at any cost.
It’s not going to be at any cost. Like I said yesterday in response to some other questions, if you’re going to be in the energy business, like I believe the Northwest Territories is going to be in the energy business, you better be looking after the environment and we intend to do just that. Thank you.
This is like putting icing on a cake and we never asked them if they like cake, type of thing, and we are serving it to them.
What the question really comes down to is we should ask them about what the fundamentals of the process are, which is should we allow fracking in the Northwest Territories and under what conditions?
Talking about down the road is great, and it’s not pre-empting the problem, it’s about asking the root of the question, which is the meaning of why we want to do something, because that drives the regulations. We passed the Wildlife Act and then we did the regulations. We’ll pass the Mental Health Act one day and then we will write the regulations. You don’t write the regulations and go back and ask the question. It’s the old saying, as we’ve all said, "The horse has left the barn."
I would like to see the Minister stand up and say, "We will go back and ask that peer question." Will he do that? Thank you.
We’ve been at this for all of 14 months. It’s been our responsibility to manage oil and gas activity onshore in the Northwest Territories. It’s only been 14 months.
We are in a process right now. That is not the question. The Member is trying to ask that question. That is not the question we’re asking right now. Don’t we owe it to the residents of the Northwest Territories to better understand exactly what we’re getting ourselves into before we ask that question, before we throw that opportunity out for the people that live in the central Mackenzie Valley and in the Sahtu who are hungry for the jobs and the economic opportunities? We want to put infrastructure into the Sahtu as well.
We need to manage this resource and we’re going to do this work. We’re not making any decisions today, and for Members to think that we’re making decisions today, that is not the case. We are not rushing into this. We are taking a measured, proactive approach to this and that’s what we’re going to do. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My kind of question, of course, and I appreciate that. I always have a saying, we should know what the question is before we’re willing to answer it. I certainly am supportive of development and I’m supportive of the good work happening in the Sahtu region. It’s just the question needs to be asked first, and we shouldn’t be afraid to ask that question.
So, I’m going to ask the Minister, does he, firstly, have concern with this question? Is the department concerned about this question? Should the public be informed in any way that the department is not willing to ask the right question, the critical question, the meaningful question that will define our time, which is: Should hydraulic fracturing happen in the Northwest Territories and, if so, under what conditions? That’s critical, and I’d like to see some courage and maybe some leadership from the Minister willing to ask that clear, simple question. Thank you.
Leadership is not taking a world-class opportunity that we have in the territory and putting it on the sideline. What we’re trying to do is manage this. We’re trying to get out; we’re trying to educate the public; we’ve been to many communities; we’re halfway through the process that’s underway today; and we can manage this resource.
I’m getting the feeling that some Members on the other side of the House don’t believe that we can manage this resource and that we can do it in an effective way. We want to manage the environmental concerns. We want to manage the opportunity that this presents us with. It is a world-class resource in the central Mackenzie Valley; make no mistake about it. It’s there and we can manage it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
