Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up from my Member’s statement on Friday, which was on the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure’s tabled document on responsible extraction, wherein the Pembina Institute reviewed the Industry Panel Report on Pathways to Mineral Development. I’d like to note right off that the panel public consultation effort was about a third of what was funded, unlike the economic development opportunities report which was its full budget and did a comprehensive consultation.
To focus on subsidies today, could the Minister please explain how this government calculates how much we should subsidize industry to set up a mine in the NWT compared to the benefits we get back? Is the Minister suggesting we pay them double what they pay back or should it be triple? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have in place socio-economic agreements with mining companies doing work here in the Northwest Territories. The expert panel on the Mineral Development Strategy went out, consulted far and wide across the Northwest Territories, and we have to keep sight of the fact that this is a development, a Mineral Development Strategy. We’re not interested in scaring away investment and we are going to have to ensure that as we continue along the path of implementing this Mineral Development Strategy. I thank the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure for going out and commissioning a report, but that report runs contrary to what the panel heard across the Northwest Territories in many cases and the views of people who live in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
How does the Minister know? He didn’t talk to them. Clearly, the Minister is not interested in speaking to residents. He said it himself. This is talking to the industry, saying what is our wish list here. I think we all agree that mines should produce a net benefit for the public, not a liability. The Mineral Development Strategy Industry Panel Report, on behalf of our 42,000 people, proposes at least seven new government subsidies for the mining industry.
Could the Minister explain which of these subsidies provides the best return on investment for the public? Is it the publicly funded marketing campaign, the full-time GNWT mining industry assistants we’re going to hire for them, or the power lines, highways, airports that we’re going to construct for them on taxpayers’ backs?
The expert panel talked to a variety of stakeholders here in the Northwest Territories, including municipalities, industry, Aboriginal government and organizations including NGOs. They talked to Alternatives North, regulatory bodies, chambers of commerce, education and training institutions and non-government organizations, so for the Member to say that we didn’t talk to anybody, that’s not an accurate statement.
We haven’t opened a mine outside of a diamond mine in well over 20 years here in the Northwest Territories. Our interest is in getting more mines open so we can have jobs and opportunities for the people who call the Northwest Territories home. As to the subsidies the Member talks about, or the incentives, that is yet to be determined as we move forward. We’ll be working with the standing committee and Members of this government to ensure that we have a Mineral Development Strategy that is going to attract investment and get jobs and opportunities for residents of the Northwest Territories.
This Minister is out to lunch. The expert panel was an industry panel. There have been two mines approved in the last few months. There’s a list of mines that are on the docket to be approved. The biggest subsidy of all may be the pre-cleanup service that we offer when mines close. Past experiences at Faro, Giant, Colomac, Ptarmigan and Tom Mines should teach us that. All are costing more to clean up than either we or the federal government get back ever in revenues.
Under devolution we will assume full responsibility for cleanup costs on new mines. Given the clear and unaddressed inadequacies already detailed, how does the Minister propose that we ensure a net public benefit, a benefit – think of it – from new mines and not a cleanup liability?
Gone are the days of Giant Mine. Governments today certainly have the tools to put in place sizeable security deposits when mines open up, and the reclamation is planned into the development of the mine. Some mining now takes place with progressive reclamation as the mine goes forward. Certainly, again, as we move forward here, we can certainly look at opportunities here in the Northwest Territories to ensure that that does not happen. Again, this is a Mineral Development Strategy, not an anti-development strategy.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seventy percent of inspections have failed to happen. We know that. Jericho. The Minister says there are no failures today. Baloney. The National Energy Board recently proposed new requirements to make sure companies exploring for oil and gas in the Sahtu don’t get to leave the public on the hook to clean up after them. Does the Minister support these new requirements?
I support our Mineral Development Strategy, and I hope that the Standing Committee on Economic Development and the Regular Members support the Mineral Development Strategy and what it means to the future of mining here in the Northwest Territories. That’s what I support.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
