Debates of October 30, 2006 (day 18)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Unchecked global warming will devastate the global economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, according to a major British report released today that seeks to quantify the costs and benefits of action as well as inaction. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said of the report, it is not in doubt that if the science is right that consequences for our planet are literally disastrous. This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime. Unless we act now, these consequences, disastrous as they are, will be irreversible.

Mr. Speaker, closer to home the proposed Mackenzie gas project will mean a huge boom in the oil and gas industry throughout the Mackenzie Valley. We’ve all talked about the jobs and opportunities that we anticipate will come with this boom, but we have to keep firmly before us the costs that will be imposed from this project on our communities and our environment.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT needs a comprehensive environmental regulatory regime before the Mackenzie gas pipeline is built. Recent Joint Review Panel hearings on greenhouse gas emissions and air quality reveal, Mr. Speaker, that no one agency will be responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry in the NWT. We have federal lands, Commissioner’s lands, aboriginal lands, municipal lands, and, Mr. Speaker, monitoring and enforcing air quality standards on these lands is going to be a regulatory jumble.

Environment Canada, in a recent report to the joint technical panel on air quality, stated that provincial, territorial and municipal regulations generally do not apply to federal operations and activities on federal and aboriginal lands. As a result, there is a regulatory gap for managing air emissions on federal lands in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, Environment Canada and the National Energy Board will be conferring to do this.

But what about those jurisdictions on other levels of our lands, Mr. Speaker? Air quality in the NWT is going to be a regulatory football, with agencies passing responsibilities back and forth and blaming each other when the football is dropped. When all are responsible, Mr. Speaker, no one is responsible or accountable. We need a clearly defined regulatory authority for the enforcement of air quality standards in the NWT, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause