Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask questions to the Minister of ITI, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay had an exploration readiness meeting in Norman Wells that was attended by the Sahtu leadership with the Department of ITI and oil and gas companies. I want to ask Mr. Ramsay, on the 11 recommendations on the Sahtu readiness exploration session all had to do with the Sahtu shale oil play. What’s the next step to this important meeting and, more importantly, to the 11 recommendations that came forward?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the first step is this budget. I think we’ve answered the call with what is happening in the Sahtu with the Canol shale oil play. We’ve addressed the concerns, some of the concerns that are there. The dialogue has to continue with the Member, with the leadership in the Sahtu and also with industry. That dialogue continued even today, as folks from the industry were here in Yellowknife and I met with them this morning, and we will continue to have that dialogue so we ensure that the benefits are maximized for the people that live in the Sahtu and we can see this play, hopefully one day, getting into production. Thank you.
In front of me I have the two-page 11 recommendations. I want to ask Minister Ramsay, I met, also this morning, with one of the oil companies and they were talking about their upcoming activities. One of the key points of this activity taking off would be understanding the fracking that’s going to possibly happen in the Sahtu and the importance of the Sahtu people, along with the people of the Northwest Territories, getting ready. If fracking takes off, we need to get ready.
How soon can the Minister pull together a meeting in the Sahtu to look at the concept of fracking and what it’s going to entail, and how we can prepare ourselves?
The government, through ITI, has done a fair bit when it comes to getting people educated about fracking, what it is, how it works. We had a study tour with Members last fall and we’ve more recently taken a group of 15 leaders from the Sahtu down to I believe it was Calgary for a study tour as well. I really think it’s important that the leadership in the Sahtu understand what is at risk here.
Certainly, there’s going to be a lot of business opportunities and economic potential for Aboriginal businesses and development corporations in the Sahtu. I think it’s very important at the earliest opportunity we get Aboriginal business leaders and other leaders in the Sahtu to a place like North Dakota, perhaps as soon as April, if we can pull this off to talk to Aboriginal leaders in North Dakota who have benefitted tremendously from the economic activity in the Bakken in North Dakota and the jobs it has created for their people.
So I want to pull this together, and hopefully sometime this April we will have a tour to the Bakken in North Dakota. Thank you.
I will look forward to the Minister’s planning and anything I can do to help to make this trip successful.
I want to ask the Minister with regard to a comprehensive sit-down with the Sahtu leadership on the transportation and the hundreds of trucks that come up on the winter road, the training, the drug and alcohol issues that we have, the business opportunities, a comprehensive review of what happens after this season in the Sahtu where there were hundreds of millions of dollars spent. Let’s sit down with the leaders, sit down with the people who are, firsthand, experiencing this and say, this is what we learned, let’s get ready for this year. Could the Minister commit to a meeting with the Sahtu people?
In questions, I believe late last week, I gave the Member my commitment to perhaps even drive the winter road into his region into the Sahtu sometime this winter during the life of the ice road. If we can do that, if we can pull it together, I would be more than happy to talk to businesses, residents and stakeholders in the region. As I mentioned late last week, we have to learn lessons from this year’s experiences with the ice road, the amount of traffic that was on that road. If there are ways we can improve things, we need to be looking at that in the interim before there is an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley, which, Mr. Speaker, I hope happens sooner rather than later.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If resources are proven, there will be a road down the Mackenzie Valley.
I want to ask the Minister, will he commit to pulling in people into the Sahtu to have a community/regional meeting on the exploration that’s happening in the Sahtu so we get ready and start addressing all 11 recommendations from the previous meeting. I thank the Minister for that.
I believe that’s a very worthwhile exercise and certainly something that, through the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, we can work with the Member and try to make something like that happen. We had the readiness session last year, and I believe we should be having a readiness session each fall in preparation for the upcoming season. I want to see that become an annual-type event.
Certainly, I understand what the Member is saying, and if there is a need to get together after the season is over in the spring to talk about issues, I think that’s a worthwhile exercise and certainly something that I would support. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the Order Paper.
---Unanimous consent granted
