Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In extraordinary times we as the government need to do the extraordinary things to help our people in our communities. No matter how much we prepare for emergencies and training, there is nothing we can do for the unplanned events. However, we still continue to prepare.
The town of Norman Wells, which happens to sit on the largest oil discovery on our lands since the 1920s, had their gas line come close to being shut down, which meant our residents, all of the entire town, would have been completely cut off from their only source of energy. Basically lights out for the entire town.
This situation came close to reality because of two broken pipelines that just happened, and that’s another Member’s statement. This caused the Town of Norman Wells to declare a state of emergency. Now the real threat of having no gas at all, the town did an extraordinary thing: it brought in a machine to help out with the gas supplies. This was done because safety first for the people, safety for our elders, and basically their actions would seem reasonable, given the challenges before them. Very simple: you either have power or no power. We chose power to the people.
A lot of good, hardworking people are still working with us on a long-term solution to deal with the shortage of natural gas. Basically the Town of Norman Wells, the Norman Wells oilfield is running dry. Imperial Oil needs natural gas for their own operations and cannot afford to supply the town anymore.
Mr. Speaker, the town requested financial assistance from our federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories. To date I don’t believe the feds have ever replied, and our government said no to the immediacy for financial assistance. They said they did not meet the criteria under the Extraordinary Funding Policy. The government said you’re the provider, you pay. Besides, because of the healthy fiscal position with the reserve funds from the natural gas or you can recoup…
Mr. Yakeleya, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, the town, like many of community governments, is being punished for their strict discipline and fiscal responsibility. So what’s the message we are going to give our communities? Be prepared to pay? Not all communities are equal and yet our government is looked upon to help communities and help with the extraordinary, unplanned circumstances beyond anybody’s control.
Mr. Speaker, while the Town of Norman Wells appreciates the immediate support by the GNWT department to examine long-term solutions to their shortage of the natural gas issue and an offer to cover for personnel to help with the current issue due to the broken lines in the pipeline, it falls short of their request to cover the larger bill to recover the cost of keeping the power on in the town of Norman Wells at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.
