Our colleagues in the Yukon have noted the need for further research on the permafrost degradation relative to the climate change we’re seeing, including the warming trends that we’re seeing all over the world, including in the NWT.
Climate change is causing a trend of drought in certain areas of the world and North America, especially in the southern part of North America, and we’re experiencing a shortage of quality water. Water is becoming a precious and valued commodity. We need to ensure that we have a rigorous environmental assessment in place to ensure that we protect the water system that we have and enjoy here in the NWT.
I support the need for consultation with the public to determine whether hydraulic fracturing should be allowed or not. There is a need for further development in the regulations that we see that have been out in the public for some time. This matter requires a full consensus of all people in the NWT, and this is a very important matter that we need to ensure that everybody has input into this matter. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today not to speak on the theme day today of hydraulic fracturing that has been very eloquently and adequately covered by my colleagues. I stand today on a matter that I consider very, very serious. I have said in the past, when we have considered leadership debates, that I am not a proponent of midterm reviews. If I have something to say, I will stand up and say it at the appropriate time. Today I’m going to do that. I am going to make commentary of one of my colleagues who sits in the Cabinet, a colleague who, like myself, is serving in his fifth term in this Legislature.
The level and degree of disrespect and contempt for this side of the House recently has risen to an all new level. It wasn’t until today, after we were departing the Caucus meeting, that it finally occurred to me what was going on. This is in relationship to a specific concern that we have had about developing an energy policy, a global energy policy for this government so that everybody would know where they fit into that plan.
This government, vis a vis this Minister, has refused to sit down and communicate with a private sector company that’s been in the Northwest Territories for 60 years, to see what they might bring to that discussion in developing an energy plan. Not only has he refused to sit down with them, he has refused to sit down with us.
Point in case is this: We were going to have a discussion. We were going to have a briefing. One week before we had a briefing, the government made a major decision which is now water under the bridge. It’s a moot point. The night before we were going to have a briefing, this Cabinet released a press release and then comes the next day to this all-wonderful anticipated briefing with absolutely nothing to share. Now, add to that the fact that they are actually going to table their response to the energy charrette in this House on Thursday. What a coincidence. The last day of session.
Now, if Members cannot see a pattern and trend here, I’m sorry. If I am the only one who is going to stand up and say this, I will still call a spade a spade. This is an affront and an insult to consensus government and the Members on this side of the House. I spoke to it briefly last week. I said it’s a fail.
What also baffles me even more than that is how did Mr. Miltenberger convince all his Cabinet colleagues that this was an okay way to do business, because it certainly is not.
I’m sorry if I seem a little emotional about this, but I take great pride in consensus government and this institution, and I do get offended and I do get passionate and I get upset when it is confronted in the way that it has been most recently in this matter.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We all know what the definition of a dictatorship is, so I invite you to stay tuned. I say that personal vendettas and agendas are going to come out. You are going to see them in the next six months. I cannot stop it. The only power that can stop it is this side of the House. I personally can’t alone do anything about it, but I ask you to stay tuned.
When we were meeting in Caucus this morning, when we decided on our schedules and what we’re going to do, I personally, with my own ears – and I do not make this up – heard Mr. Miltenberger talk about the fact that we are leaving here Thursday and not coming back until September 29th. These were the words: “Four months of no oversight.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize and welcome to the gallery and to the House some representatives we have from Canadian Tire Corporation who took part in the announcement today. We are appreciative of the support that they have shown. We have Mr. Landon French, who is the vice-president of community relations for Canadian Tire Corporation and the executive director of Jump Start. We have Pierina De Carolis and Kim Desrochers, both from Canadian Tire Corporation. Welcome to the House.
We also have with them three hardworking members of MACA who put a lot of these programs into place and we appreciate the work that you do. Mr. Tom Williams, deputy minister; Ian Legaree, who is also up there and we have Damon Crossman, who is also up there. Thank you very much for all the work that you do.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure to welcome some more students to the House today to see our proceedings. We have a Grade 6 class from St. Joseph school. I would just like to recognize all of them today, if I could. They are accompanied by Jennifer Genge, their teacher; and Mr. Stephen Richardson, classroom assistant. Matthew Baggs, Gabe Beard, Aaradhana Bhattarai, Claire Cooper, Quinn Critch, Red Dela Prez, Jaida Dowe, Vincent Embodo, Ashlin Gauchier, Caelem Grandjambe, Brandon Koe, Vy Luu, Carleigh Luxon – she is not there – Gairon Mason, Jace Menton, Laurelle Pittman, Kassandra Rawless, Kevin Santos, Jeremy Snow, Aron Taylor, Lydia Taylor, Gabby Uy and Mya Wrigley. She is not there.
One other person who is up there that I want to recognize is my CA, Ms. Wendy Morgan. Welcome to the House.
While I’ve got the floor, I want to thank Canadian Tire and Canadian Tire Corporation for all the good work that you’re doing up here in the Northwest Territories. Thanks for visiting us.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize one of our hardworking Pages who resides in my riding of Frame Lake. Caleb Cleary has been working for us for the two weeks, I think, and will be continuing on, I think, for the rest of the week. Thank you to all the Pages, and particularly to Caleb, for the work that they do.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize two constituents. One, Marie Speakman. She was originally from Deline and now she’s living here. I would also like to recognize Sheila Karkagie from Tulita.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Always a great pleasure to welcome constituent Tony Whitford, honourary table officer extraordinaire and brings a special energy to the House, as I think we all agree. Great to see you, Tony.
I would also like to recognize a few people in the gallery who were participating in a demonstration outside the House today passing messages on to the House. My colleague has already mentioned Sheila Karkagie. Also, Keira Kolson and Marie Speakman, I believe, was in there, as well, and there may well be others in the House that were part of that. I appreciated hearing from the people.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize two Pages from my constituency. First of all, Trinity Cayen who is in the House. Trinity is 15 years old. She is in Grade 8. Her interests are math and English. Her hobbies include basketball, reading and writing. Also, at the same time, she loves going camping with her family and cookouts with family. Also, Nick Smallgeese, who is from the Chief Sunrise School. He is 14 years old and in Grade 9. His interests include math and doing volunteer work at the store. His hobbies include archery, soccer and camping with the school. I’d like to recognize also their chaperone, April Martel.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. I’d like to welcome everybody here in the public gallery. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up with some questions on when I spoke on horizontal fracturing. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI, just with regard to studies related to hydraulic fracturing taking place in the Liard Basin, are there any baseline studies being done there, or have been done?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and through my role as regulator of the industry, we are not involved in the baseline studies that would have been done in the Liard Basin. I know there has been some work there. I will get the Member that level of detail, and I suppose I’d have to go to another department to get that information.
Certainly, I spoke in my Member’s statement about how the Fort Liard public engagement session was deferred and it’s planned for next week. I’d just like to ask the Minister how his department is letting the communities know about the upcoming engagement sessions.
I believe it has been well advertised, public announcements and posters around the community. I can get, again, detail for the Member on what has happened to let the public know. It was unfortunate two communities in the Member’s riding, we were unable to get in there initially because of weather, but those meetings are scheduled, as the Member mentioned, for next week.
Certainly, these are very small communities but it’s important to advertise about subjects of this importance. I’d just like to ask the Minister, as well, what additional engagement measures will the department take over for the extended engagement period as they’re looking at extending it until August? Thank you.
We still have a portion of the process to get through, more communities to have meetings in. What we will do, and I have committed in the House last week, was to extend the period and the process until the end of August. We will take a look. I know Members are asking for more educational opportunities for communities. We will take everything we’ve heard into consideration and make a concerted effort to address the concerns we’ve heard and, again, carry the process out until the end of August and further if need be. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the information sessions there was talk about a Section 35 consultation, which means consulting with Aboriginal organizations. This summer finds us with our annual assemblies. What are the plans for the Section 35 consultations with Aboriginal organizations? Mahsi.
The public engagement sessions are, of course, public engagement. The consultation with Aboriginal governments has started. I’ve written letters to the Aboriginal governments around the Northwest Territories. That is in the works, that consultation period. The added time to the end of August will give us an opportunity to get to gatherings and other commitments around the territory where gatherings are taking place. We will have folks attend assemblies and provide information and talk to people about the process and how we’re moving this effort forward.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement, I talked about responsible exploration for energy. The Sahtu needs to understand the impacts and the consequences on our land, water and wildlife from the responsible exploration for energy.
I want to ask the Minister of ITI, what is this government doing to know the potential impacts and consequences? What studies have been done in our region?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every application that is received is scrutinized by arm’s-length regulatory boards here in the Northwest Territories that hear directly from the public and make decisions and set regulations for every single project based on the specifics of each proposal.
Through ENR there has been work done on water and there are other efforts in place. Of course, the proponents in the Sahtu have done a lot of work on baseline information gathering themselves. So when an application comes forward, that information is in it so the public can understand what the application is and the impacts it may have. Thank you.
The Minister talked about studies and information. I want to ask the Minister, what credible information on the impacts on this exploring for energy using hydraulic fracking to the health, environment and water that we are doing in the Sahtu. Do we have effective enforcement?
We are moving forward with draft regulations. We have had only a year, or just over a year. Our government wanted to devolve and evolve. This is part of the evolution. As we move forward, we can take a look at other jurisdictions, how they’ve regulated the industry, how they’ve been successful and not ruling out one technique. You look at BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, they’ve done this in a safe and responsible manner. It is about striking a balance, and we believe that we can manage our own affairs here in the Northwest Territories so that we can protect the environment and we can provide jobs and opportunities for people. I know some Members, in their Members’ statements, talked about the future. The future includes jobs and opportunities for businesses and people here in the Northwest Territories as well as protecting the environment. Thank you.
Can the Minister speak about the public infrastructure plan that will and is addressing the issue, such as transportation of wastewater disposals once the operations have begun in areas where we are doing horizontal hydraulic fracking?
You just have to look around the Northwest Territories and a lot of the infrastructure that we have in place here today is a direct result of resource development, whether it’s mining or hydro, in the case of the Taltson, or mining.
We are looking at an opportunity in the central Mackenzie Valley. One of the knocks against the Territories is lack of infrastructure. Members are talking about environmental concerns, and the Member is asking about wastewater. It would make much, much more sense if we had an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley. That’s something that’s been a priority of the government for some time. In the case of developing a resource and developing an industry in the central Mackenzie Valley, an all-weather road is a big part of that puzzle. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year at the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated AGM, the motion that was tabled and talked about called for a joint committee with the GNWT to consider the risks and benefits of hydraulic fracking in the settlement area.
I want to ask the Minister, has the Minister’s department ever responded to that motion, where they would sit down with the Sahtu Secretariat and look at the issue of hydraulic fracking in their region and come together to understand as to how they’re going to proceed with this?
I’m not aware at the official’s level if that has happened. I can make a commitment to the Member, if I can sit down with the leadership myself, I’d be happy to do that, to discuss just that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to follow up my Member’s statement with questions for the Minister of ITI.
If it was not apparent to the Minister before today that there is a significant public concern surrounding fracking in the NWT, it should be clear now, and the public wants input on the question of whether to fracture or not, and that the drafting of fracking regulations is premature. It puts the cart before the horse.
Will the Minister now declare a moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the Northwest Territories until a comprehensive public review of the practice is conducted, letting the people of the NWT become knowledgeable about this controversial practice and indicate their acceptance of the risks involved, or not ? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned last week, we are going to take more time with the process that we have underway.
Again, every application is scrutinized by arm’s-length regulatory boards that hear directly from the public and make decisions and set requirements for every single project based on the specifics of each proposal, recognized best practices, current science and public views. Ruling out one particular technique is like telling a doctor they can only ever use general anesthetic for a procedure, when local anesthetic or even an aspirin might be more appropriate. It is more responsible to use the best approach for each job and make sure we, as a government, have created the best rules to manage that, and that is what we are trying to do here. Thank you.
I take it that’s a no to the moratorium. We all know that the people called for a halt to economic analysis of the last application, yet the government approved it, despite having the power to call for that environmental review.
Of more than 400 peer reviewed publications on the impacts of shale gas development, 75 percent of which we published in 2013, 96 percent indicate adverse health outcomes, 92 percent indicate elevated air pollution and 73 percent warn of water pollution because of fracking. Tight oil fracking starts after that, so the research is behind, but it’s coming out completely in parallel with this. Yet the Minister continues to assert that despite evidence worldwide to the contrary, we in the NWT will be able to beat the odds and do it safely.
On what basis does the Minister feel that he alone is right and the scientists of the world are wrong?
Again, Northerners have the ability to provide input into the assessment of every application at many stages of the process that we have in place here in the NWT, through intervening in the process, through submitting comments on the public record, to making comments at public hearings.
I have every confidence in our NWT regulatory system. Thank you.
I would just remind the Minister that the NWT has been blanketed with motions and resolutions from every Aboriginal government across the Nahendeh part of the NWT, requesting just that, a moratorium, a ban, or a comprehensive review.
As I was saying, the science is clear. The oil under the ground in the NWT must stay there, according to science, if human civilization is to continue as we know it. Renewable energy options are environmentally and economically attractive, virtually limitless and promise provision of more clean and affordable energy than we need.
Will the Minister commit to removing perverse subsidies and misguided support to fossil fuel extraction and shift them to building renewable energy systems that serve people, communities and our living earth? Mahsi.
