Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure tabled a report by the Pembina Institute, entitled Responsible Extraction. As we heard, the report was commissioned because there were substantive concerns that the industry panel report towards the GNWT Mineral Development Strategy seemed to be not only far from public interest policy, but leaning towards an industry wish list of support and public expense. I mean no disrespect to the authors of that report, but I think that their terms of reference and their composition did not foster public benefit approach.
In contrast, the responsible extraction report is a thoughtful analysis focused on public benefit. I encourage you to read the review in full for points in common, disagreement, and new points offered. The list of industry subsidies critiqued is too long to be detailed here but, in brief, report conclusions include:
Total revenues from royalties collected on northern mines from 1956 to 2011 was less than $1 billion, or considerably less than the $3.5 billion currently being spent on northern contaminated sites.
Mining jobs with a rotational schedule are unsuitable for a significant portion of the labour supplied, so it is unlikely that further training and recruitment efforts will succeed in significantly enlarging the mining industry’s northern workforce.
It is not economically or socially sustainable for the GNWT to be so dependent on volatile mineral industry revenues. Diversify.
Mining has significant environmental impacts on ecosystems across the Northwest Territories, particularly with regard to toxic waste and habitat disturbance. The industry also has significant environmental impacts related to climate change.
Neither the GNWT nor any regulatory board or agency in the NWT has formally recognized or created any policies that would ensure mining respects the principles of environmental sustainability by staying within specific ecological limits.
Most importantly, the report recommends that the GNWT undertake a more balanced and open public consultation process as it drafts its response to the panel’s recommendations.
I encourage all members of the public and this House to read this well-researched report and give their feedback to the committee as per the chair’s invitation. Most of all, I encourage the Minister himself to read the report and give his feedback, something he has not yet done despite being in possession of this taxpayer-funded report. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
