Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As my colleague before mentioned on the incident there related to the Enbridge line 21 referred to, one element of land management is responding to infrastructure. In this case, line 21, several months ago our government first learned of this incident. My question to the Minister of Lands is: what monitoring systems are in place currently after learning from the incident? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, the difficulties with the line included were rather in an area that is the jurisdiction of the National Energy Board, so that would be the primary party that is responsible for issues arising from difficulties with the pipeline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is common knowledge there from the mirrored legislation and Devolution transfers and terms of the agreement that it is within the NEB jurisdiction on line 21; however, we shall move on because outside the parameters of the right-of-way it is our land, so I think we should take precautionary measures and at least have some method of communication. Therefore, my next question is: are there land inspectors out in that area, in the Fort Simpson area, where the situation is crossing the Mackenzie?
Yes, of course some of the areas adjacent to the pipeline and the right-of-way would be the responsibility of OROGO, and I understand that they do have a procedure under which if there are difficulties those incidents are reported to them. As to the second part of the question, as to whether there are inspectors out there right now, I would have to get back to the Member opposite.
We could answer it now or we can answer it later on as the budget deliberations go. There are resources that need to be approved for the hiring of inspectors. However, a potential catastrophe of this nature would only need the attention that it deserves and the resources to support that. I would encourage the Minister to be forthcoming on the question. Do we have people on the ground looking after our better interest and the health of the environment and the health of the people, knowing the fact that this particular infrastructure is across from the Mackenzie River, and there are a lot of affected communities downstream that could be affected? My question is, I would encourage the Minister to keep us abreast of the learnings of the situation and to please share that with us.
I will keep the Member's office appraised of any developments that are under our jurisdiction. I understand also that the oil company or the transmission company, Enbridge, does as a courtesy advise us of difficulties or issues that they are facing. There has not been a cutback in the number of inspectors that Lands has. I realize of course that this is a serious issue, and I can advise that the department will be monitoring it carefully.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
