In my third day in this House I raised the issue of full-cost accounting: accounting that looks at all impacts and considers environmental consequences. The Premier, at that time, agreed to look closely at full-cost accounting — a quite reasonable response — but apparently has not yet implemented that. This allows costs to continue to accrue.
I have a constituent — a filmmaker, an artist — who through her work brings in considerable dollars and work opportunities to the Northwest Territories, as well as contributing to the unique Northern identity of the North, our jurisdiction and our people. She happens to be very environmentally aware, quite progressive, and has a can-do attitude. Similar to a Yellowknife city councilor, who is allowed to travel by bus to minimize his greenhouse gas emissions while on city business, this person wanted to use the support she had from G.N.W.T. to travel in the most responsible environmental way. Yet when she asked to use her support in that way, she was refused — apparently by ITI — the ability to travel by train, bus or however, rather than by air travel, in order to minimize her greenhouse gas emissions. She was willing, and stated so quite publicly, to pay any extra price, and that any extra time would be at her own expense, yet she was denied this opportunity.
The Minister indicated the most economical mode of transportation for travel was by air. But requiring travel by air ignores pollution, greenhouse gases — with the eventual climate change costs — and airport subsidies, and in fact is the most expensive form of travel that we can take. This is a poor state of affairs, and I’m hoping that full-cost accounting will become part of this government’s approach in the immediate future.
The Minister also said this was a federal responsibility. This “Atlas Shrugged” business is quite crazy. We need to all take on responsibility for this issue. I would dearly love to see this government take a leadership role on this issue. We are paying the costs up front. Let’s take a leadership role. Let’s implement full-cost accounting and support our citizens in their attempts to deal with this issue.
