Debates of October 21, 2004 (day 25)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll direct my question to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Brendan Bell. I know that the action plan for the Protected Areas Strategy has been developed by the NWT Protected Areas Strategy Secretariat since 2002 when it was first initiated. I know that there have been negotiations on some cost-sharing agreements with the federal government and other aboriginal organizations to the tune of $17 million for the Protected Areas Strategy. I wanted to ask the Minister if any cost-sharing agreement has been reached and, if not, when can we see an agreement put in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an initiative that we’ve been working on for some time now and we do currently fund some of the work that the secretariat is doing, but the bigger piece of work that we’re looking to fund is in the neighbourhood of $1.5 million over five years. We’ve been expecting that the federal government would come forward with their money. The NGOs have already indicated that they’ve got the money ready to go and we impacted the three partners in the PAS. We still don’t have a firm signal and firm commitment from the federal government as to their contribution. I think at this point we’ve decided that we may not, in fact, be able to wait for that and we’re going to have to go forward. So I am putting some work to go in front of our Financial Management Board to seek this funding to continue to support the PAS. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that response. Something of this nature I guess in a Protected Areas Strategy, you’re debt ratio to the end cross-referenced with the Mackenzie gas project. You know, something like this has to be in place before a project of this magnitude breaks ground and I want to commend the department for contributing $1.5 million over the next five years. But the estimated cost over the five years in the summary of the PSAC action plan is $17.745 million and I just want to ask the Minister if he’s approached NGOs or producing groups, for instance, to come up with any funding or being involved in this cost-sharing agreement? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The agreement, as laid out some time ago, sees three partners to the funding: three NGOs, the federal government and the GNWT. The three NGOs are WWF, Canada Parks and Wilderness Society, and Ducks Unlimited. Their commitment is for $5.9 million. RWED has committed that we would try to seek $1.5 million over five years, but that was contingent on the federal government stepping to the plate with their contribution, which is the lion’s share of the funding. As I’ve said, we don’t have that commitment yet, but we are working to see what kinds of pieces of this agreement we can fund until that commitment is realized. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess maybe I just want to exchange my form of questions. I want to ask the Minister if the Protected Areas Strategy action plan includes monitoring and feedback to this government and the federal government on a semi-annual basis or even on a monthly basis on how the planning process carried out and what’s developing to date. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, as one of the funding partners, we are intimately involved I would say on a daily basis with the work the secretariat is carrying out. Obviously we do receive feedback as to how that work is continuing. Work is underway, work is going forward. We rely, I think as the Member knows, on communities and regional groups to identify the candidate areas for protection. We are looking to protect culturally and ecologically-sensitive areas and so this really is grassroots community driven, but, yes, we are involved on a daily basis and do receive feedback as to the results that are being achieved through the secretariat. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to point out that I know that a lot of the candidate areas and these community groups have other avenues in which to establish protected areas; for example, through Parks Canada, Environment Canada and through the territorial government through their own protected areas legislation that they already have in place. I want to know what priority does this Protected Areas Strategy action plan have over any of these other avenues, which could be easier to work with for these candidate-selected areas that these organizations want. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 275-15(3): Protected Areas Strategy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we can see this as a comprehensive plan for the entire territory. We know that this pipeline isn’t confined to one region, one community, one area. We have to understand that the impacts are throughout the whole region, the cumulative impacts of the project. The impacts on all these regions are important to take into consideration. So, yes, there are other processes underway that are driven by land claims organizations and those are important as well, but this is one that’s very comprehensive and involves all of the groups up and down the valley. Because of that, the nature of this plan, we think that it’s very important and continue to support this and make it one of our highest priorities as a government. Thank you.