Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier today in my Member's statement with regard to the satellite industry up in Inuvik and the benefits that it has had for the people of Inuvik and the Northwest Territories. I spoke about the infrastructure investment we've made in the fibre optic line.
We know that there has been some outside investment with regard to putting new antennas in Inuvik, but the application process seems to be arduous and long. I'd like to ask the Premier about the antenna application issue. It's been going on for a couple of years. I'd just like to know: has our government been aware of these delays, and if so, what are we doing to let the federal government know how these delays can be severely impacting our economy in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to reinforce the tremendous opportunity that this satellite facility has, not only for Inuvik, but for the whole Northwest Territories. Inuvik is the best location for tracking satellites, and when we went on a satellite tour in Europe, we become readily aware why because, when we visited the launching facilities in Korona, we were told that to have success in launching a satellite, the longer you can talk to it, the more chance of success. In Korona, they can talk to satellite for nine minutes an hour, but if they twin to Inuvik, they can talk for 30 minutes an hour, so the chances of a successful launch is significantly improved. I just read recently that, in the next few years, there will be over 4,000 launches of satellites, so it's certainly an important area with tremendous opportunity.
We are very concerned about the delay. Certainly, we, myself, and officials, and a number of Ministers have interacted with the federal government Ministers, right up to the Prime Minister's office. I would like to take credit and say that we understand a decision will be made this week on the licence, but there have been other players, and the Member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories has spent a lot of effort on it, and the Senator chairing the Arctic Consult Senate Committee. My officials have a call with Global Affairs Canada tomorrow to obtain more information on the licences and how it applies or the impact for our planet Inuvik satellite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Premier for his comments. It's appreciated. I know that he recognizes the importance of the opportunities this industry can provide to the Northwest Territories. It seems as though to some degree there might be some approvals imminent, and that's positive as well.
As I alluded to in my statement, Mr. Speaker, there are folks who are starting to suggest that Canada is not a friendly jurisdiction for this industry, and although there are many maybe approvals here on the horizon, these were long-standing applications. What has the federal government indicated to our government as the reasons for these delays?
This is an area where the advances are very rapid, so it's a concern when it takes two years for a licence to be approved. However, the federal government recognizes that the legislation is old and processes that are currently in place need to be updated, given the significant advances. Part of the delay was they have a federal government site that was developed and there was also a site that was developed by the private sector. This was the first international application that was received. They had to make sure about national security issues, and also perhaps the fact that the construction of a facility was done before the application process was approved may have had an impact on it as well.
Thank you to the Premier for his reply, and I hope that certainly we can continue to voice our concerns to the federal government that there needs to be some streamlining with regards to these application processes, and that there needs to be improvements made to the legislation.
With regard to approvals of these applications, what do we know? Do we know, is it now going to be just a straightforward kind of approval, or are there a number of conditions that are attached to these approvals? Do we know anything along those lines?
Our expectation is that we'll get more details when our officials talk to the Global Affairs Canada later this week, which will allow us to try to make things better going forward.
Also, we're hoping that Planet Lab with this pending approval will see fit to revisit their decision to pull out and take their antennas out.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is: certainly, we can't expect to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to build antennas if applications take two years to approve. Other jurisdictions clearly can streamline this process. What can our government do to put pressure on the federal government so that we can start to fast-track some of these applications? Certainly we don't want to have folks who have already made investments starting to dismantle their antennas and relocating them into other jurisdictions. What are we going to do to put pressure on the federal government to start fast-tracking these applications? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the fact is that the federal government is well aware of the potential for satellites in the Northwest Territories. Certainly, Natural Resources Canada was aware of it. They invested a significant amount in developing the federal site. The other federal Ministers, including the Prime Minister's Office, is well aware of it now, and certainly we will continue to work with the federal government to find ways to resolve the issues so we can continue to grow the industry in the Northwest Territories. We can work with them to identify to them where we see the bottleneck so that certainly updating the current legislation would be a good start. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
