Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Can the Minister confirm that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has received final approval today? Can the Minister elaborate on that?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is another great day for the Northwest Territories. I can confirm that Cabinet approved the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and the National Energy Board issued a press release announcing that they have issued a Certificate of Public Convenience for the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project.
It’s a good day today for Nunakput. This is a good news story. Will the pipeline go ahead now and when can we look forward to the go-ahead start-up date?
This is another important step in the process to getting the pipeline constructed. The next big step is to get the two parties, the federal government and the pipeline proponents, together to negotiate and finalize a fiscal framework.
I want to emphasize that the proponents are not looking for subsidies. What they are looking for is loan guarantees so that the constructors of the pipeline will get some assistance with financing and that the pipeline will go ahead. We also have to finalize an access and benefit agreement with one of the Aboriginal governments. That will put us well on our way to having gas flowing in 2018.
When will the social impact funds of the $500 million be available to go ahead?
The arrangements that we understood were in place with the federal government was that the money would flow once a decision to construct the pipeline was made. So we have to go and confirm with the federal government that, indeed, this decision should allow those social impact funds to start flowing.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s time to tell the federal government “show me the money.” What are we doing to get ready? What is the Minister’s department doing to get ready for this future project?
We’ve been working very closely with the federal government to get ready for the pipeline. We are working to identify the permits that will be issued and how we can make sure that we process the 7,000 permits that are required for the pipeline to go ahead on a timely basis and that we can work together so that all the requirements are met so that the pipeline can go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
