Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has faced one delay after another in the past few years, and reading the paper this morning, I see where the Joint Review Panel's report has been delayed again. First we expected it in 2008, and now I hear 2009. I'm not sure when in 2009 that it's coming. First they extended it; they added another seven months on to their hearings. You know, it could be December of next year for all we know. That's going to add almost another year and a half on to the whole process.
The reason I keep speaking to this is I represent an area that's invested quite heavily into being ready for the pipeline, and the longer the delays continue to go on, the more it affects them and their businesses. The price went from $4 billion to $16 billion, and who knows what it's going to be a year and a half, two years from now.
This panel has had 21 months of hearings, 630 days. The paper said they had 115 days of hearings. At least 525 days where they could have been working on their report.
I understand that this is an independent board. I think sometimes we may have given them a little too much independence — giving them independence to the point where they're extending as long as they like. I'm not sure if this government had input into any terms of reference that may have been set aside for this board.
The pipeline is important to the residents of the Beaufort-Delta. You know, I believe that the pipeline will go through. It’ll be controlled development. We’re not going to just push this through, and I appreciate the fact that we have to have due process and look at all the different effects this might have on the land and the environment, but I do think that too many delays have affected this project.
I have a habit of sometimes saying what I really think, and I have a habit of saying what other people think. I am just wondering — and I have people asking me — if an honorarium had a large part to play in the delays.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
