Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on the review of the Project Assessment Policy. The Minister committed to have the review completed in December of 2022 in response to my written questions in March of 2022.
Can the Minister tell us the status of that review and whether the work to revise this antiquated and regressive policy will be done in the 19th Assembly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
I could quickly say yes but expand it a little bit further. The Member is correct; the Department of Lands had completed an initial review of the Project Assessment Policy when we merged lands and ENR. Further work on the policy has continued through the Department of ECC. And as I've said the Project Assessment Policy will be revised before the end of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Well, that's the good news. I'm just kind of waiting for the bad news now, but. In response to the written question I submitted in the House in March, the Minister said there would not be any public engagement work with Indigenous governments on the review of the policy. We have, you know, public engagements on such mundane matters as renaming the old Stanton Hospital, a product survey, you know, for liquor and cannabis, but we're not going to ask the public about how GNWT should be involved in environmental assessment of major projects? I just don't get it.
Can the Minister explain why the department does not want to seek public input into revising the Project Assessment Policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct, in my written response I said no, we're not going to do public. But, Mr. Speaker, the Project Assessment Policy already exists and is being updated based on feedback and concerns shared by boards, IGIOs, and the public, during the Tlicho AllSeason Road and the Giant Mine process. The Project Assessment Policy is an internal policy that defines how the GNWT works internally among departments for project assessments and will continue where the government is the proponent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. So a key feature of the devolution agreement was the establishment of an Intergovernmental Council to allow the public and Indigenous governments to corporate and collaborate on matters related to lands and resources management. And, Mr. Speaker, that sentence is taken directly from the IGC website.
So can the Minister explain why his department does not intend to work with Intergovernmental Council in reviewing the Project Assessment Policy? Thanks, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated just on the last question, this policy defines how the GNWT works internally for the project assessments. Again, it's an internal document. The policy is, again, about the GNWT's - on how the GNWT organizes work together among departments for environmental assessments prior to making any submissions to comanagement boards. 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. This may be an internal document, but it's public interest. I've raised this numerous times in the House, and it does involve expenditure of public monies as well. You know, this government has taken a keen interest in large infrastructure projects; it seemed part of Cabinet's mandate. GNWT's going to increasingly become a proponent in environmental assessment. And this Project Assessment Policy seems to be aimed at controlling the presentation of evidence and expert opinion that is not consistent with Cabinet's views.
So can the Minister tell us whether this government is really committed to evidencebased decisions and how will that be implemented in the context of GNWTsponsored projects and related decisionmaking? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for the question. The government is committed to evidencebased decisions. There is nothing in the Project Assessment Policy that prevents the presentation of evidence or expert opinions in the comanagement process. Currently the GNWT, led by the Department of ECC, is working to define how the GNWT can be more transparent in environmental assessments, including decisionmaking of the GNWT projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
