Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to ask some questions to the Minister of Infrastructure. I apologize I didn't know I was going to have the opportunity to do this today.
I understand from a news release that the department has put out that there's some cold weather testing of a light-armored helicopter happening out at the Yellowknife Airport. Can the Minister tell us whether we have any criteria for the use of the Yellowknife Airport when it comes to cold weather testing? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not aware that we have anything in place, and I appreciate the Member coming with no notice but I can get back to the Member on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. And I want to apologize to the Minister in catching her a little bit cold-footed. But I guess I've had some concerns raised with me about whether we do actually have any criteria for the use of the airport.
One time in the early 1980s, this government actually took a principled stand against cruise missile testing in our territory, and I understand that this is a military weapon that is actually being tested at the airport. So can the Minister commit, if there is no criteria, to actually develop a set of criteria for a cold-weather testing at our airport? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can look and get back to the Member if we do have requirements. I do want to make note that I was told that the helicopter's not armed, if that makes the Member feel any better, or the city. But I can look into it and just maybe determine how much work is involved in actually coming up with this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, this is for the department of Finance.
To date, how much money has the GNWT spent on relocation costs to hire non-NWT residents for employment in school within the last five years?
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that number here. I will go back to the department and see what information we can pull, what data we can pull. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government, after a series of review, recommended best practices for Crown corporations was to not have public servants sit on their board. The federal government passed a number of recommendations.
In our own situation, I think it's very likely that our Power Corp will be asking for a rate increase to the Public Utilities Board, and I really think it confuses the issue of whether we are responsible for rate increases, or whether the Power Corp is, when the board is made up entirely of deputy ministers.
So my question for the Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation is when are we going to remove the deputy ministers from the Power Corp board? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, the board of directors, yes, they are made up of deputy ministers within the government, and we are doing a review of the Northwest Territories corporation.
The Territorial Hydro Corporation Act states that the board of directors of the Northwest Territories Powers is designated as the board for the power, the hydro corporation. The work that we're doing is looking into the review of what does this consist of, how much it would cost and, yes, that's what we're doing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps the Minister can provide the House with an update of when that review is expected to be complete?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that work is ongoing. The government's review is going to take time. We are hoping for the session right after the New Year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Oral Question 874-19(2):
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I do have some questions for the minister of environment and natural resources. Again, I haven't given him a heads up but, look, it's in the media now that the federal government is developing some regulations to allow for the release of water from the oil sands in Alberta. Of course, that would flow downstream past our communities, including Fort Smith.
So can the Minister tell us what involvement, if any, our government has had in the development of these regulations? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you. Usually the Member gives me the question ahead of time but this is good; I actually had a conversation with our staff just recently about this very topic.
So we've reached out to the federal minister to have this actual conversation about trying to get a position on the board. We've had communications with the Alberta government to work on this. So we are having these dialogues back and forth with the minister of Alberta as well as the federal minister, and we're trying to get this resolved. This has been a very long issue for not just only the Member but our Indigenous governments across the territories, all the way up from the Beau-Del all the way down to Fort Smith. So we've heard them. We've heard the concerns. We are working with them within the system we have presently. So we are on a plate, I guess, communicating back and forth with a letter and there will be another letter being sent out probably within the next week or so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. Can he commit to share a copy of this letter that he's sending with the regular MLAs, even on a confidential basis, so that we're aware of what's being requested and how we might be engaged in the development of these regulations moving forward? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not Yellowknife North asking the questions today. We will look at back I do not want to make a commitment here in the House to say that we will share. I don't see why not but we want to make sure we do it right. So I will reach out back, talk to the department, have the frank conversations on what we can and cannot share, and then we'll get back to the House with that answer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that.
Can he tell us, though, a little bit more about the development of these federal regulations, what impact might that have on our trans-boundary water agreement with the Government of Alberta given that there could be emissions. Like, these tailings ponds are huge. They've been storing water for years. It looks like there's a desire now to start to release this in light of some of the flooding that's been happening and climate change and so on. So what impact is this going to have on our trans-boundary water agreement with the Government of Alberta? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for that detail, I'm going to have to reach out to the department. I mean, that there involves a lot of people, departments. We need to find out, because right now I know the Alberta government's talking about it, but we've reached out to them. We're not supportive of this presently or even in the future. So we need to reach out to the federal Minister and to the Alberta Minister to get that information. But for further detail as to the question that the Member asked, that there is going to involve some research. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. Can he commit to sharing this research with the Regular Members? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I will get back to the Members and the Committee of SCEDE with the information that we're able to provide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Map Staking versus Claim Staking for Mineral Rights. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, who is responsible for both promoting the mining industry and regulating it.
During the development of the Mineral Rights Act, there was a commitment from the Government of the Northwest Territories to implement map staking as the method for acquiring mineral rights. The department has also committed to spend $3.7 million developing a mineral administration and registry system to facilitate map staking, a fundamental change to the way in which mineral rights are secured. This will likely require a careful balance between the economic interests of small prospectors, claim post manufacturers, expediters, charter aircraft operators versus mining companies with the capital to tie up large areas without significant work commitments.
How is the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment going to balance these competing interests, and,
Please provide a summary of the representation work requirements for mineral claims since devolution, including the number of active mineral claims, value of the representation work completed, number of claims lapsed due to a failure to perform representation work, and the value of that representation work that would have occurred;
Please explain how the value of the work that would normally go into claim staking will be dealt with under map staking to prevent speculation and/or be converted into actual exploration work;
Please provide any economic analysis of the impacts of moving from claim staking to map staking that has been conducted by or for the Department; and,
Please provide a full description of the public engagement that the department intends to undertake as part of any move from claim staking to map staking, including the steps, timelines and specific opportunities for public input.
Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: NWT Climate Change Action Plan: Annual Report 202021; NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan 20212025; NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan 20212025 Plain Language Summary; and the Responding to Climate Change in the NWT Plain Language Overview Report 2020/21. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Northwest Territories Carbon Tax Report 2020/21. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: NWT Energy Initiatives Report 20202021; and a Followup Letter for Oral Question 78219(2); NWT Power Corporation COVID19 Vaccination Policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for Justice.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Plain Language Summary for Bill 41: Justice Administration Statutes Amendment Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
