Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister for ENR, pertaining to the stranded barge on Toker Point north of Tuktoyaktuk. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister is: What is the Department of ENR doing to be more prepared in the future to minimize the environment impact of ships going aground in the Arctic Ocean? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe this is going to be an issue that we're going to be faced with more of in the future as more traffic is travelling through the Northwest Passage, so I think it's good planning to have our governments ready to deal with any situations that might arise, and we're hoping that they don't.
Our staff from Inuvik and Yellowknife, we've been involved with the federal science tables, which the Government of Canada agencies with authority to respond to these types of incidents. We're not the lead in this, but we do provide, we will provide support to Canada Coast Guard, who is the lead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks for the response on that, and I do believe there will be more activity in the Northwest Passage and the Arctic Ocean in the next few years to come. Mr. Speaker, my second question is pertaining to the incident, since there was such a long time for activity, to this incident. Can the department identify the process once a ship has run aground in the Beaufort Sea? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, according to the NWT Nunavut Spills Working Agreement, all spills or potential spills must be reported in a timely fashion to the 24hour spill line. In the case of a ship that runs aground, Canada Coast Guard, as I said before, is the lead agency for response component on behalf of the Government of Canada, and Transport Canada is responsible for the management and governance of Canada's marine oil spills preparedness. ENR will be involved in communicating critical aspects of the incident, and we can provide assistance when Canada's agencies request it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the response from the Minister. My final question to the Minister of ENR is: will the Department of ENR work more closely with the federal government to ensure that the GNWT and communities are more prepared in the future in a case of a significant incident such as this in the Arctic Ocean? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
HON. ROBERT MCLEOD: Mr. Speaker, as I said before, because of the increased traffic or expected increased traffic, we will have to better plan for incidents like this, should they happen. I mean, I can assure the Member and the folks up in the coastal communities that we will work with the Government of Canada and see what kind of processes we can have in place, what our role as ENR can be in these processes, because it is very important that we start planning in the event that anything like this happens again, so we should be prepared for it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
