Good afternoon, colleagues. Before we begin, I’d like to welcome back to the House and to the table the Honourable Anthony W. J. Whitford.
---Applause
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome members of a federally appointed arm’s-length panel undertaking a statutory review of the Canada Transportation Act. They are visiting the Northwest Territories this week to gather feedback from Northerners into new federal transportation policy and program development.
The panel will conduct a comprehensive examination of how the act operates as it relates to the economic regulation of transportation.
Mr. Speaker, this is a valuable and unique opportunity for Northerners to provide our perspective on how the transportation system can be leveraged to support economic growth with nation-building projects, such as the Mackenzie Valley Highway to Norman Wells, or an all-weather road into the Slave Geological Province or the Tlicho region.
The review is also an opportunity to examine the role of transportation in supporting sustainable economic development in the Northwest Territories.
Unfortunately, the lack of infrastructure is creating obstacles to exploration and development in remote areas. The challenges are most acute in regions where residents, businesses and industry depend on air or barge transportation to receive essential goods and services.
Mr. Speaker, officials with the Department of Transportation have been working in partnership with the NWT Chamber of Commerce to coordinate a round table discussion in Yellowknife this afternoon with the review panel.
The round table involves approximately 35 representatives of the NWT transportation sector such as industry representatives, users, experts and others who represent a broad range of perspectives and experience on northern transportation.
The discussion will examine how changes to federal policy and programs can help to resolve current and emerging transportation challenges in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, review panel members will be visiting Hay River tomorrow where they will meet with representatives such as NTCL, Coast Guard and the Great Slave Harbour Authority. These meetings will provide panel members with first-hand information on areas of concern that involve the federal government, such as dredging the Port of Hay River and critical sections of the Mackenzie River to accommodate fully loaded tugs and barges, fishing boats and the Coast Guard fleet.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation’s involvement in the federal review of the Canada Transportation Act aligns with the 17th Assembly’s goal of realizing a diversified economy for Northerners by making strategic investments in infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, as many Members will have seen earlier today in the Great Hall, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and Canadian Tire Corporation announced a new partnership to support physical activity and sport opportunities for NWT children and youth.
Canadian Tire Corporation has committed to providing up to $225,000 over three years for equipment, training and capacity building to support MACA’s After School Physical Activity Program.
As Members may recall, this program supports local programs that get school-aged children and youth more physically active in every NWT school.
On behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, I want to thank and recognize Canadian Tire for their generous donation and for their commitment to assist in improving opportunities for our children and youth.
I also want to recognize all schools in the Northwest Territories and the NWT Teachers’ Association, which represents teaching staff, for their support. Most of our programs are run in schools or have volunteer teacher support. We simply could not offer these opportunities without you.
Mr. Speaker, sadly, up to 85 percent of NWT youth are not physically active enough to gain any significant health benefit. This is slightly better than the Canadian average, but very disappointing when it means that nearly nine out of every 10 youth are at risk.
In these times of tight financial resources, it is incredibly important for government to join forces with the corporate sector and others to help make a difference. Canadian Tire has led by example. In future, I hope we can encourage others to join the cause.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Landon French, vice-president of community relations, for traveling to Yellowknife to help me make the announcement. Together we can make a difference. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, in cooperation with the judiciary, the Department of Justice has been supporting specialized courts in Yellowknife since 2011. Specialized courts and their programs provide offenders with an opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and get the support that they need to lead healthier lives for themselves and their families.
Today I want to advise Members that in April the Domestic Violence Treatment Option Court was expanded to Hay River. The DVTO Court, as it is known, is now available for offenders from Hay River, Enterprise and the K’atlodeeche First Nation.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to the judiciary for leading the way in the expansion of DVTO Court to the South Slave. As a result, the department is now able to extend related services to these communities, in collaboration with the RCMP and Health and Social Services.
Like the DVTO Court in Yellowknife, offenders must accept responsibility for their actions and be willing to participate in the eight-module PARTNER program to learn how to change their behaviour. Each person remains under court supervision and will return for sentencing by the DVTO judge at the end of the program.
Mr. Speaker, we must take every opportunity possible to reduce the violence that is so destructive to our families and the personal well-being of individuals. The DVTO Court in Hay River, and the PARTNER program that supports it, work with low-risk offenders to break the cycle of domestic violence. We hope to see very positive results.
I would like to advise Members that we have also very recently expanded our Parenting After Separation workshop delivery to communities outside Yellowknife. This program assists parents before they ever make it as far as the court system. People whose marriage is breaking down can often be confused, frustrated or angry. This is frequently compounded when children are involved. The free workshop we have been offering parents for some time helps them make positive transitions through separation or divorce. Difficult issues are discussed and assistance offered for constructive resolutions. This assistance makes this difficult process easier for parents and their children.
On May 28th the first Parenting After Separation workshop was offered in Behchoko, and in Hay River on May 29th. More workshops will be scheduled to meet local interest and demand. The department also has plans to begin offering this workshop in Fort Smith, Inuvik and Norman Wells in the fall of 2015.
Mr. Speaker, the department has taken the time to make sure that these programs are effectively meeting the needs of offenders and families. We are pleased that we now have the experience, in addition to the support of the judiciary and other partners, to serve more communities. We support this Assembly’s vision of strong, independent people who are safe and secure in their communities. We will continue to provide programming as effectively and efficiently as possible, ensuring that everything is in place for successful outcomes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mr. Speaker, ensuring the care and safety of children and providing accessible programs and services to families across the Northwest Territories is a top priority of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment identified the need to do a full review of the current licensing system for daycare centres, family day homes and Aboriginal Head Start programs to ensure compliance with legislation as part of Action 6 of the Right from the Start Early Childhood Framework and Action Plan. ECE is responsible for licensing these programs under the NWT Child Day Care Act and Standards and Regulations. As a result of the review, the department has made licensing reports of child care centres available to the public.
Information from licensing inspections completed after April 1, 2015, will now be posted to ECE’s website in a searchable format. This will encourage child care programs’ continued compliance with the Child Day Care Standards Regulations and give parents and caregivers peace of mind. The department is always looking to improve the systems in place, and these enhancements will increase transparency and provide parents with valuable information to make informed choices about their child care options.
Mr. Speaker, only six other jurisdictions in Canada provide online child care inspection summaries, putting the NWT among the lead. These improvements are part of the ongoing work by the departments of Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment on the Right from the Start Early Childhood Development Framework and Action Plan.
Enhancing the quality of licenced early childhood education and care programs contributes to the GNWT’s ongoing efforts to streamline and improve access for families with young children, providing them with the programs and services they need to see their children grow and thrive. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, every budget session, I have provided this House with an update on the progress being made under the Service Innovation Strategy. Today I want to tell you about a tool we have to measure how satisfied northern residents are with government service delivery.
The national Citizens First survey measures how satisfied Northwest Territories residents are with the Government of the Northwest Territories services they receive over the phone, in person and online. Since the survey began in 1998, it has gained international attention and recognition and remains the “gold standard” in research on public sector service delivery.
The GNWT participated, for the first time, in 2014 in Citizens First 7, the seventh in this series of studies.
These surveys explore various aspects of a changing service environment, tracking perceptions of service quality and performance for a wide range of services offered by municipal, provincial/territorial and federal governments.
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, the Yukon and Quebec have all participated in the survey. A combined telephone and mail/mail-to-online approach was used. Where appropriate, comparisons are provided to the overall national results and “Best Provincial/Territorial” results, which represent the highest score by participating individual province or territory. Four hundred three people were surveyed in the NWT.
The GNWT participated not only to establish a baseline for measuring progress but also to understand more about what our residents expect from government and what makes for the most satisfying service experience regardless of what channel Northerners access government services. The term “channel” refers to how you access the service. It can be online, in person, or on the telephone.
This first survey provided us with some very interesting information. The office of the chief information officer has been making presentations and sharing the results of the report and recommendations for improvement with all of the government departments.
What did we find out?
The NWT’s service reputation score is the highest in Canada with a score of 66. The NWT’s score is higher than the national average and has the highest score of the participating provinces and territories. Your reputation score is indicative of the public perception of your services. I hope this is not just beginner’s luck.
We also found out that NWT residents felt this government was responsive to the needs of a diverse population, whether it be visible minorities or people with a disability.
The NWT’s client satisfaction score, where NWT residents are asked to rate a recent experience with a territorial government service, saw the GNWT receiving scores on par with the highest score among the eight provinces/territories participating in the survey.
We will not let those good scores go to our heads. We recognize there is room for improvement. An article in the May 8th Yellowknifer, entitled “Calls to the GNWT go to the Birds,” Mr. Walt Humphries points out how both he and Ms. Cece McCauley have found it difficult to find the information they needed from the GNWT.
Similar to the issues of the two Northern News Services columnists, the survey revealed the “findability” of information on our websites requires improvement, as does our telephone wait times. We also found out that we have challenges in solving problems, correcting errors and dealing with complaints, especially when a resident has to use more than two channels to solve their problem, or tell their story to multiple people.
In addition to providing some very valuable baseline information, the survey also summarized some priorities for improving services, like customer service.
The office of the chief information officer will offer service training for employees in June for front-line service providers and in October for certified service managers. The training will help employees and their managers become accredited in service delivery. It also aligns with the Service Innovation Strategy objective to improve government service delivery, and as departments look at putting more services online, they can look to these survey results for baseline information on where to focus their efforts.
This was just a brief overview of the Citizen First survey. I encourage everyone to read it in its entirety. It can be found on the Department of Finance website and I will table the survey results later today at the appropriate time.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any mining operation is fraught with risk, financial risk for the company, environmental risk for the residents, social risk for communities and so on. Any company starting a development must weigh the risks to benefits to determine if they should proceed with their development.
Development of oil and gas operations is not dissimilar. There are many of the same inherent risks; but when extracting unconventional oil and gas, the risks are greatly increased. That may not be a big deal for a multinational company with deep financial pockets, but it is a big deal for the people living around the extraction site.
Extracting unconventional oil requires fracturing, horizontal fracturing for it to be economical. That process impacts land, water, wildlife, fish and, ultimately, people’s health.
The science around fracking can be argued to a certain extent. It’s not totally clear if the process is good or bad, but it is clear that horizontal fracturing has impacts and that those impacts are negative. Yet just what those impacts are and how widespread they are, are unknown.
Fracking in the North is even more risky due to us having ground with permafrost. What studies are there to illustrate the impacts of horizontal fracking on lands with permafrost? None, I believe. If fracking occurs here, the NWT will be the guinea pig. Do we really want that, or would we rather have some data to confirm the effects before we start fracking?
It’s possible that fracking can be done without serious damage to our environment and our residents, but to date, the government has not proven that. Not to Members of the House and not to residents. As a result, we have the call from many directions of the NWT to not start fracking just yet.
As I said last week, a conversation on fracking has not been held and it must be held. The Minister might be surprised to find that after proper research and review, consultation and conversations, that NWT residents support fracking. I fervently hope they do not support horizontal fracking, but potentially vertical fracking.
I again urge the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment to start a territory-wide consultation and review process on the merits of fracking. This is too important an issue to be decided only by Cabinet. All residents deserve to be heard. Will the government let that happen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. It is clear that the people of the Northwest Territories have a lot to say when it comes to fracking, especially horizontal fracturing. That was true at the public engagement session on the proposed regulations in Fort Simpson and it continues to be true today. The people of my riding are eager for education, understanding and consultation. They have questions about safety, health, water security and fracking itself. I also know that the Dehcho First Nations and the Liidlii Kue First Nations have passed resolutions against fracking in their traditional lands. I support both the Dehcho and the Liidlii Kue in their resolutions, which I will table in the House later today.
Many of the monitoring and research programs that the government describes deal with the Sahtu region. I don’t doubt that these programs are important, but potential effects may also be felt outside that region. Fracking is already being done in northern BC and the Liard Basin, and our portion is being studied as well. But what about baseline data and monitoring there?
At the Fort Simpson session, I was concerned about the time given to people to understand and respond to our technical regulations. Today I am pleased that the government has extended the public engagement period by 60 days, to the end of August, but I must be clear: the government must be seen to be doing more to engage the people.
I also have questions about how the regulations deal with baseline studying and monitoring. It seems that industry will be responsible for much of this work. Is self-monitoring in such a competitive industry a wise approach? Will there be some kind of oversight? We must be prepared to enforce our own rules. Because the two sessions in my riding, one in Fort Liard and one in Nahanni Butte, were rescheduled – they’ll happen next week on the 9th and 10th of June – I encourage all of my constituents to share their views. As the public engagement process continues, I’ll continue to be a full participant as a Member of this Legislative Assembly. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to speak about hydraulic fracturing, fracking, as it’s called by most people. I’m a member of the Economic Development and Infrastructure committee and we’ve been working to learn more about this over the last two or three years.
Hydraulic fracturing has been approved in the Northwest Territories in the past by the federal government and the National Energy Board. April 1st last year, we took over control of our lands and resources. We are now in control. We need to control how the regulations of this industry and this particular process are being done in the Northwest Territories. We need to have a Northwest Territories approach to this. We need to make sure that the regulations in this area are the strongest in the world, Mr. Speaker. I think nobody in the world is more interested in the land and resources than the Northwest Territories people. We’ve heard that in most of the discussions on regulations.
This is not development at any cost. We need to look at how we can make these regulations northern and make sure that they’re being implemented, that they’re being controlled, that we are making sure that we are not affecting the land and the resources in the Northwest Territories.
We are not the only jurisdiction looking at this. We know our neighbours in the Yukon have been looking at it for the past two years and have spent a lot of money. They’re still undecided. Mr. Woods, yesterday, from Australia, indicated that they had done the Hawke Report and indicated that they didn’t have any indication on what they were going to do.
We’re still looking at this process, but we need to set up the regulations. We can’t deny that there’s a potential opportunity here for people, an opportunity for jobs. We need to look at the revenue that can be generated. We have lots of pressures. We have lots of expenses that are going up in our health, education, housing, and all our programs are demanding more and more. We need to look at how we can do this northern, make sure the regulations are enforced, but we need to take it nice and slow. We need to lengthen out the process. This government can’t rush through it. We have some time. There is a natural moratorium. Industry has indicated that they’re not doing anything, so we need to look at this sooner than later. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s hard not to get caught up in the emotional drama when the word “fracking” is discussed. Ultimately, the well has been poisoned long ago by both extreme views of ideology and science.
We cannot afford to walk away from our economic duties as newfound stewards of the land, and we cannot ignore the economic potential from responsible resource development our territory has to offer. Yes, we can all agree there are risks, as all large-scale human activities have them, which is why we must subject ourselves to the highest degree of environmental integrity to the objective of efficient, smart and transparent resource development.
As a Member of this House, I have a fiduciary duty and obligation to all Northerners to protect our land, water and resources from unwarranted and adverse effects, yet I am equally bound to support the extraordinary value creation this economic NWT sphere can provide in basic necessities for its people.
As a member of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, I have witnessed first-hand our social umbrella expand to greater deficits without any economic balance. Consequently, in order to achieve this balance in society, we need to look at opportunities in investment and growth within a diversified, environmentally sound economy. Therefore, we must continue and support this comprehensive public engagement that is occurring within our government’s regulatory authority and support any form of so-called bans or moratoriums goes directly against the premise of gathering this important knowledge.
This is a very complex issue with polarizing views, and in the end there are no winners, only survivors of moral opinion. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all want a cleaner, safer, healthier environment. “Why,” you ask. Well, if you were to come out and walk on the Canol Trail with me, you’ll know why, or travel along the Mackenzie River, you’ll know why, or fish on Great Slave Lake or the Great Bear, you’ll know why.
We can strike a balance. We have responsible exploration for energy. We are searching for economic freedom, unshackling the chains of dependency from the federal government. Days are gone of the oil companies that drill them, fill them, spill them and bill them. Responsible exploration for energy has been a never-ending process of revolving, just like the operations for mining for diamonds in Yellowknife. Thousands of trucks pass through your front yard each winter, and yet it is okay to drain five lakes and talk about the amount of water used in the fracking operation.
People are responsible and are looking for responsible exploration for energy in the Sahtu or in the Deh Cho or in the Beaufort-Delta. The Northwest Territories is looking for its own energy source. It is learning about the possibilities of becoming energy independent, self-reliant and efficient. Imagine, we can do this, striking the balance. NWT’s energy policy for the 21st century is a possibility.
Responsible exploration for energy is the cutting edge of making us a nation of independence, rather than making us a nation of dependency. Dependency is on handouts. Who wants to be living on handouts?
We look at every way to stretch our energy dollars, at our gas pump stations, to heating our homes, to buying our airline tickets. These things cost money, and money is energy.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Oil companies are always looking for new fuel solutions and so are we – new supplies, maximizing efficiency with advanced technology to make the exploration for energy a science and an art.
While we are still putting our rules in place for responsible exploration for energy with the goal of solving our energy problem, they must continue to work together and allow the agreed upon process to finish without any tainting or interference or trying to derail our energy policies.
The sky is not falling. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you can tell, we’re having a little bit of a theme day here on hydraulic fracturing. I applaud the department in doing their due diligence and going out and doing the public engagement throughout the Northwest Territories.
On April 9th I had the opportunity to attend this fracking meeting in Inuvik. We had over 30 participants, so obviously it was a big concern. It was one of the biggest public meetings that I have attended. A lot of passion was spoken by members and leadership, not only from Inuvik but we had leadership from Tsiigehtchic, Fort McPherson, Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk. So, everybody from the Beaufort-Delta region was there expressing their views, expressing their concerns.
We are told that these public hearings are to help us guide these regulations as we are moving forward. We heard a lot of good discussions about the shale potential in the Inuvialuit, the Gwich’in and the Sahtu regions. As you can tell, all of the regions are also going through some economic hard times. So, obviously, there was some great opportunity to look at the economic prosperities in those three communities as well as the Liard Basin, among other areas throughout the Northwest Territories where hydraulic fracturing can also help increase the economy and increase jobs for the people. As I mentioned, in those areas the economy is very slow.
We also heard about strengthening the regulations that we, as a government, have inherited through these public forums, and I think that is some of the process as we are moving forward.
We also talked a little bit about if we do proceed, we can strengthen the regulations, but more importantly, through the public engagement process we are educating the residents of the Northwest Territories on hydraulic fracturing. I know there are a lot of misconceptions out there. There are a lot of facts out there and we want to make sure that we can make our decisions based on facts.
At the meeting there were a lot of concerns that were brought up from our leadership, from concerned citizens who attended, things such as seismic testing, the disclosure of chemicals, which has been brought up in this House before from some Members, especially some of those chemicals that are patented by some of these companies. Obviously, with the Beaufort-Delta there was a big concern with the water flow and possible chemicals, should there be a possible spill, and the wastewater. With that, we don’t even have wastewater disposal sites.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
There was also concern of monitoring, and as I also mentioned, the wastewater disposal sites that we have in the Northwest Territories, do we even have any, which got me thinking about our transboundary water agreements that we have with Alberta and BC. If Alberta and BC are doing hydraulic fracturing and they’re lowering their water levels, can that have an impact here in the Northwest Territories? Last summer we just witnessed the lowest water levels on record here in the Northwest Territories. If we do go ahead and proceed with hydraulic fracturing, how much of that water is going to be used up, and how is it going to affect the communities down the Mackenzie River?
I just wanted to mention that the department did propose new regulations and four new requirements to meet northern priorities. I won’t get into the detail of them, but one big concern was with the hydraulic fracturing: Why is the government moving forward with regulations when we don’t have all groups and Aboriginal groups on board? That really caught my attention.
I will be asking questions to the Minister of ITI later on at these public engagements.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When asked what his secret to success was, Wayne Gretzky replied that most players go for where the puck is while he goes for where the puck is going to be. I know our Premier and ITI Minister are hockey players, and they’re good ones. If we want to be stars like the Great One, we need to recognize that oil and gas may be where the puck is at currently, but renewable energy is where the puck will be by the time we get there. Let’s apply this insight to the NWT economic development energy strategy and listen to the goal buzzer shriek with joy.
It’s obvious that the days of the world’s reliance on fossil fuels for energy and our economic foundation are numbered. We can continue chasing this elusive puck at great cost, and ultimately in vain, or we can jump to environmentally clean, locally derived and job-rich energy systems and sustainable economic models based on our knowledge of where the economic opportunities are shifting to.
Instead of asking what costly subsidies and complex but ultimately ineffective regulations are required to get one last gasp boom and bust cycle out of fossil fuel exploitation, let’s capitalize on the real opportunities that renewable energy development enables. Let’s shift from fossil fuel addiction – I know it’s hard – and climate destroying, water poisoning, forest flattening, rock fracturing and community stressing petrochemical exploitation to the earth replenishing, job creating, wealth distributing and community supporting development of wind, solar, biomass and small hydro energy sources.
Let’s connect the dots. Alberta is burning up and closing tar sands operations. The West Coast is parched with record drought. Texas went from a record drought to floodwaters rising eight metres in 24 hours. One thousand people died last week in India of heat stress. Six hundred twenty square kilometres of our forest burned in May under record draught conditions. Science shows that human civilization is now at risk from dangerous climate change as it comes with two degrees warming. Clearly, it is happening right now with a one degree change. Eighty percent of known reserves must stay in the ground, according to science, to avoid dangerous climate change and impacts on human civilization. The question of fracking is moot.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Abandoning already stranded fossil fuels and quickly positioning ourselves to take advantage of renewable opportunities is the obvious and compulsory answer. We have the chance to be there to meet the renewable energy puck and slap it into the net. Will we hear the crowd roar? We can if we so choose on behalf of our people and our land. I certainly hope we do. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many of my constituents are very concerned with our government moving forward with regulations to allow horizontal hydraulic fracturing. My constituents are thinking of the future. They are concerned that we may pollute our lakes and rivers. Many of my constituents live a traditional way of life and harvest wildlife and fish from the land.
Many of my constituents are also thinking of our future generations. They also want their children and grandchildren to have the same opportunities we have today to live off the land. Mr. Speaker, we need to do a better job to consult our constituents and have workshops on horizontal hydraulic fracturing. I’d also like to quote one of my constituents: “Our land, water and wildlife are priceless.”
As we move forward with our regulations, I believe we need to extend the time frame. I know we’re looking at the fall, but I think we need to take more time. We need to ensure that our residents are comfortable with this government moving forward with hydraulic fracturing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before we begin I’m going to say it has become crystal clear in the work that we do here that hydraulic fracturing certainly has become the most important ideological question of our time. True leadership is the willingness to put the question sometimes to the people, rather than trying to say, “Here I’m a leader and I make all the decisions in isolation.”
Knowing that, the government is still trying to understand and balance its role as land and resources regulator. We’re starting to see the ITI Minister take on some of these responsibilities for regulating oil and gas and mineral projects, but at times you see him almost like with a two-headed job. Of course, the Minister only has one head, at least that I can see, and you can see the Minister certainly has a tough job promoting the industry one day, but then, of course, trying to give the final word of the application in a most fair and appreciated manner.
So, what is it really? I know the rules, of course. They’re spelled out so the Minister can only do so much so far and he has sworn he has delegated the authority, which we’ve seen on paper, but sometimes it causes you to wonder. Of course, now we have the review of the regulations of the hydraulic fracturing in process. The question really, in my opinion here is starting to weigh, is where is the public’s good being weighed in on this question? Of course, we’re reviewing the regulations before we have the good will or certainly the permission and support of the public to this particular fracking.
As well, at the same time, I have to paint a face on it that Minister Ramsay I’m not sure is as open-minded as he likes to try to tell the public he is with his public comments that he has made in the media that fracking is needed for economic growth and we believe, he says, “it can be done in a safe and secure manner.” So I’m not really sure, with that type of perspective and those types of words from the Minister, why he even bothers wasting his time with the public at that point. I mean, we all know we’re being driven to a further resolve.
If I go a little further, in an e-mail the Friday before, it says, “Resources in this area will require hydraulic fracturing to extract them.” So again, what we’ve got here is a situation with the Minister saying one thing and we’re putting the board sort of in between the old proverbial rock and a hard place. We’ve got the applicant that one day may or may not come forward with an application to frack. The board is supposed to be independent in how to do these things, and we’ve got the Minister’s opinion saying, “Its safe and we have to do these things.” We all know boards don’t want to upset their Minister, even though they are independent.
I should at this time request unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
----Unanimous consent denied
Thank you. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We have commonly heard that the GNWT is in a balancing act, weighing both conservation and industrial development with a zeal to create an economy for jobs and business opportunities in the overall growth of the NWT.
Industrial economic development, when we say that we’re presuming that we’re underdeveloped, that the system that we have, particularly the environmental regime that we have in place, could be said to be archaic, and our recent efforts have been made to try to update the whole system that we have through the devolution exercise. Similarly, we have a very socially challenged labour pool of people who are afflicted with minimum grade levels and alcohol and drug abuse. Our people are highly dependent on the government for assistance and subsidies.
When we say conservation, we want to keep certain areas of the environment as pristine as we can for future generations. That means having no development in certain areas.
In October 2011, the point was raised on whether the GNWT was considering following other jurisdictions in Canada by establishing a moratorium on fracking. Right now the current effort is to develop regulations to allow fracking. The Northwest Territories could be said to have a strong traditional economy, hunting, fishing and trapping. Our people gain pride in terms of being independent, to supplement their income, to put food on their table.
I wanted to reference a film that I saw as a youngster, and that movie was called “A Paddle to the Sea.” It’s about a small carving of a person in a canoe paddling the great lakes and rivers that we have in Canada. What it illustrated to me is that those rivers that we see float by our communities are sourced from mountains and ice that floats down to the river systems and that eventually comes to our communities and our homes. The rivers and creeks and lakes that we have are part of the watershed systems that we have in place in the NWT, and efforts are being made to ensure that we have a very vigilant system in place to ensure that there is a level of monitoring and assessment in place to ensure that disasters don’t happen.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
