Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline and the government’s stance on going forward. I just want to ask the Minister if the government is devoting the resource and attention to this megaproject and if the government will involve the MLAs up and down the delta, up and down the valley, community leaders, to push forward from an all-inclusive campaign group to work with this project.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the release of the Joint Review Panel report, governments have had to spend their time and effort on dealing with the recommendations, and legal advice we have been provided is that we should let the responsible Minister deal with the pipeline. As such, we have been limiting our remarks to just talking in general terms about the pipeline. That’s the approach that we’ve been taking.
The Minister said keeping on the timelines. Last year they took almost five years for this. I really hope that the federal government and our government don’t take that long regarding hearing back from the NEB. Will we be working with the federal Minister and our Minister regarding keeping the timelines and keeping them on track on the date that is set already, and when is that date?
The responsible Minister for our government is working hand in hand with the responsible federal Ministers. The timeline that everybody is working towards is to finalize the final reports by September 2010.
This report took five years from the JRP to get handed in. We have businesses in the delta that you know of in Inuvik and Tuk and Aklavik that are relying on this project. Not only this project, the people are having... There’s no work up there, no economic benefits and nothing going on right now other than building, if you’re a carpenter. No roadwork or anything. At the end of the day, this government has to take a step.
I thought we were too lax on not pushing this thing forward as hard as we should have. The Minister is doing a good job on working with the federal Minister, but I think the timeline, we have to get more concentrated in pushing them now to make this project happen. We need this project to go. We need the work. There’s nothing going on up in the delta. We’re going to have to wait another two years or three years before something happens.
Will the Minister commit to me today to work with the...to get this project off the ground and get the shovel ready?
We will continue to do what we can in this area. It’s very important for us, or critical for us, to wait until the final reports so that we can work from there. I think one of the very important factors is the sunset clause that was discussed at length. We would have to wait for the final report on that. Also the federal government has, through the consult to modify process, we will have to wait until that process runs its course and everything is geared to when we get the final report in September of this year.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline, I just want to make sure that our government is taking the proper steps in pushing forward this project so the people of the Territories... This is probably going to be the biggest project ever for us in Canada. Everybody wants to do it right. We have to find some stimulus to get people working up in the delta. Just want to make sure there are timelines and we have to stick to them.
We are working very diligently to make sure that all of the timelines are met and that when the report comes out in September 2010 we’ll be able to deal with the recommendations.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
