Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my Member’s statement was on the Mackenzie Gas Project and my questions today are for the Minister of ITI. Is the Minister of ITI working with Esso and other producers to get this Mackenzie Gas Project restarted to avoid the two-year delay that producers have announced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have worked with Mackenzie Valley Pipeline proponents and also the Aboriginal Pipeline Group in the past to determine some of the information requirements that were required for the pipeline. The Joint Review Panel has recently filed the report. Until such time as the responsible Ministers and the various governments respond, we will continue to participate through providing a government response and also continuing to intervene and participate in the different hearings as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the MGP slowdown in the offshore activity moving over to Alaska and the Chukchi Sea with Shell and the communities in the Beaufort-Delta and Nunakput communities that I represent, there is a drill chip in the Mckinley Bay 60 miles away from Tuk. People could be working. The two-year delay such as this really puts a damper on everything because the projects that we do have going on in Tuk, the access road is starting to slow down, it is near completion. Mr. Speaker, what will the Minister of ITI be doing with the federal Ministers to get this project restarted to avoid the further delay and is he working to get the offshore activity restarted? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think there are a couple of pieces of information that I need to emphasize. First of all, Imperial Oil recently announced that the decision to construct would be made in 2013. The earliest if gas would flow would be in 2018 if it was a positive decision. The reasons they gave for the delay was the long delay caused by the regulatory process and also the lack of a fiscal arrangement with the federal government.
In the recent federal throne speech and the recent federal budget, the federal government had indicated that they support the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline as long as it was commercially viable and that it met all of the regulatory requirements that the governments would respond to.
We will continue to do our part to focus on dealing with the response from the Joint Review Panel report and also the fiscal arrangements is the most important thing. Proponents have indicated that would be the main rush now for making a positive decision to construction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the road to the gravel source is nearing completion, the Minister working with any other businesses, communities in the Mackenzie Delta and down the valley on the downturn of the delay of the business activity, has he found a way to continue stimulus funding for additional projects such as that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we have been continuing to get our message out about the very negative impact that not only caused by economic slowdown but also by the lack of economic development in the region. We have been working through the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline office. We have been working with the communities and also with local businesses to try to identify the kinds of assistance that could be looked at so that we could get through this difficult period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to ask the Minister if he could, I guess, send a letter to the producers groups and the Joint Review Panel, but producers groups in urging them to see if they could get this project restarted and try to hold back on the two-year delay, because people in the communities and down the valley need employment. The businesses that are suffering up and down the valley need this project to go sooner rather than later. I ask the Minister if he could send a letter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I guess if it gives the Member any comfort, the Alaska Pipeline have indicated that their project be pushed back to probably 2020. I guess a large part of the delays there is with, for example in the Chukchi Sea, there have been a lot of court cases with regards to whales and other marine mammals. That is an issue that Americans have to face as well. We will continue to work through the regulatory process and we will be working on filing our government response. We will be participating in the hearings as they go along as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
