Debates of March 9, 2005 (day 52)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak to my continued support for the efforts of this government to develop an effective recovery program for beverage containers.

Mr. Speaker, we must maintain progress on this initiative to bring a program of recovery of beverage containers and other recyclable materials to communities across the NWT. As Members, we understand that transportation and capacity limitation across the NWT present unique challenges to the development of a territorial-wide recovery program.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage the government to get recovery facilities up and running as soon as possible, where possible, and to continue to work on how best to implement the program territory-wide in the near future. The smaller communities must be involved and we need to encourage their interest in participating and help them find the most efficient and effective ways to participate. We, as MLAs, have a role to play, as well, in spreading the message in our communities to ensure all communities buy into this important initiative.

Mr. Speaker, it is the responsible thing to ensure that commercial and public stakeholders are properly consulted in the development of our recovery program. The Waste Reduction and Recovery Advisory Committee have brought meaningful representation from across the NWT and across the various business sectors. Some implementation delays have been encountered, but this is to ensure that affected stakeholders' concerns or ideas are properly considered in the implementation planning process.

Mr. Speaker, waste recovery and recycling is important to our residents and our environment and we must keep moving forward, but at a pace that ensures that we do it right. As we bring all communities on line, we will ensure that the implementation of our program represents our conservation ethics. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause