Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I was just informed this morning that ITI is putting on fracking education workshops in Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope this afternoon and tomorrow. These workshops have been, apparently, planned for a long time and yet I have just learned of them today.
I am wondering what role the Ministers of the Environment and Education might have had in developing these workshops. I am wondering: Could the Minister please explain the purpose of these education sessions? Mahsi.
Thank you Mr. Bromley. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to hydraulic fracturing, and the Northwest Territories is no different.
It has been suggested many times that we do more community meetings and workshops when it comes to hydraulic fracturing. At the suggestion of the community of Fort Good Hope, who wanted a third-party workshop to be set up in the communities in the Sahtu – the Member mentioned the communities of Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope – this week. We are also hoping to have meetings take place in Deline and also Tulita. The meeting in Fort Good Hope, folks from Colville Lake will be brought in to that meeting, as well, this week.
It is not a sales pitch by industry. It is being carried out by a third party, a neutral third party. The Indian Resources Council will be delivering the workshop. The more education we can do on the hydraulic fracturing here in the Northwest Territories, the better off we will be.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is fully committed to ensuring people have all the information when it comes to hydraulic fracturing here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. The Indian Resource Council, of course, is a group that represents oil-producing First Nations. It is not likely that we will get a balanced view from them either. I know that ConocoPhillips is a partner in presenting these workshops, according to the Minister’s information.
Fracking will have wide-ranging impacts in the Northwest Territories, but I totally agree that it is important for the people of the Sahtu to learn more about what is being planned for their region. It is their land and communities that will be most affected, but in looking at the agenda and speakers, I see that the one-sided tour we had in North Dakota is continuing in the Sahtu.
Could the Minister please explain why the people hired to conduct these sessions are all representatives of oil producers, and how the people of the Sahtu are supposed to make informed decisions when they are not being given the full story? I admit it takes effort to get everybody to the table, all perspectives to the table. Thank you.
We needed a neutral third party, and I have to disagree with Mr. Bromley’s assertion that the Indian Resources Council is not a neutral third party. They were brought in at the request of the community of Fort Good Hope and the leadership in the community of Fort Good Hope. Thank you.
I understand that the oil companies are hoping to make a lot of money from fracking in the Sahtu, so they can afford to pay for educational workshops and make everything look so rosy, but the government’s role here is to make sure that people have the best information.
Can the Minister confirm that GNWT funds were used to pay for these workshops and that similar funding is available to bring in people who are not industry lobbyists? Mahsi.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment would have helped communities fund these workshops that have been much anticipated in the Sahtu. For a detailed breakdown of costs and who is paying for what, I will make a commitment today to get the Member that information. Certainly, we have been looking for partners to help pay for these workshops. That is how we have gone about this, is partnerships, and if that’s with industry and communities, that’s how we are going to continue to pursue getting people the education that they need when it comes to making an informed decision about hydraulic fracturing here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really do appreciate that the people of the Sahtu and the people of the Northwest Territories need to be better informed about fracking. We need to consider the economic, social and environmental benefits very carefully.
When will the people of the Sahtu and NWT have an opportunity to hear about the social and environmental impacts and make informed decisions about what is best for their communities? Will the Minister sponsor a public forum on fracking that will include balanced information on both the positive and negative potential impacts? Mahsi.
Anything we do in that regard would have to be done in conjunction with my colleague Minister Miltenberger, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and we would certainly look at getting the information out there. If it is hosting another community education symposium or workshop, call it what you will, that is what we want to see happen. We need to continue to get the misinformation off of the table and the real facts put squarely on the table. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
