Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories holds a virtually untapped wealth of oil and gas resources. The jobs, income and revenues associated with the responsible development of those resources represent an enormous economic and social development opportunity for the people of the Northwest Territories. Our government is taking steps to realize those opportunities on behalf of our residents. The Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment in its mandate to develop a long-term strategy to attract oil and gas development in the territory. I look forward to presenting a draft NWT Oil and Gas Strategy to this Assembly before the end of this fiscal year. The strategy will provide a framework for the environmentally responsible and economically sustainable advancement of the oil and gas industry in the NWT for the benefit of all NWT residents. The need to develop a long-term strategy to attract oil and gas development in the NWT was first identified in the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy; work is ongoing to develop the strategy. It is informed by public and stakeholders engagements, focus groups, interviews and surveys completed last year, and documented in the Pathways to Petroleum Development Public Engagement Report. Our intent is that it provides a clear set of goals and recommendations that will serve to identify what needs to be done and how it should be completed. The government has also made a commitment in the mandate to advance the territorial vision of land and resource management in accordance with the Land Use and Sustainability Framework by evolving our legislative, regulatory and policy systems. As part of this, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is preparing to advance a legislative review of the Petroleum Resources Act and the Oil and Gas Operations Act. These acts were inherited from the federal government as part of the devolution agreement, and the time has come for us to make them our own, reflective of and focused on the needs and priorities of Northwest Territories’ residents.
Mr. Speaker, our work is in its early days but aims to reduce redundancies in the regulatory process, redouble our commitment to environmental protection in all resource extraction activities, and modernize the acts to work with contemporary best practices. As we prepare to advance this work in the Northwest Territories, the Government of Canada is also reviewing the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, from which our legislation was mirrored. In both cases, there is little reference to unconventional gas resources and extraction techniques used to recover them. This is an important point to consider in the wake of the most-recent world-class natural gas find in the Liard Basin. We as a government must do all we can to support the timely delivery of our resources to market with the utmost care for the protection of our land, wildlife and water. This requires a formal made-in-the-Northwest Territories approach, something we are now readying to provide. We will be incorporating the feedback and lessons learned from our 2015 engagement processes, the Canada Petroleum Resources Act Review, and additional consultation and engagement to draft our amendments to legislation, regulations and policies, mindful of our commitment to provide meaningful opportunities for participation in land and resource decisions to citizens of our territory. Mr. Speaker, our work will require collaboration; and Mr. Speaker, the framework for this collaboration is well established. This Government of the Northwest Territories’ Departments of Lands, ENR, ITI, and Finance have committed to work together to advance the territorial vision of land and resource management in accordance with the Land Use and Sustainability Framework to evolve our legislative, regulatory, and policy systems. Meanwhile, our client services and community relations unit is dedicated to building strong relationships with our communities, providing education and outreach services and bringing public questions and concerns to light surrounding natural resource projects. We cannot deny that we sit in the down cycle of the commodity markets right now. This is something we have seen before. Commodity markets rise, they fall, they recover; it’s the natural flow of the markets. As we sit in this downturn, our government is hard at work ensuring our jurisdiction will be ready to capitalize on the next peak in commodities in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner, and in the best interest of the Northwest Territories, our economy, and our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Ministers’ statements. Minister of Lands.
