Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment made a statement in the House the other day about the Oil and Gas Strategy, and in his statement he mentions that he’s got a job on the expertise and knowledge of regional territorial stakeholders, Aboriginal governments and industry to develop a strategy that truly reflects northern values and priorities.
Can I ask the Minister just to get an update on where he is with that? Has he held these regional meetings, specifically up in the Beaufort-Delta, to look at developing this strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re still in the process of doing consultation. We’ve had probably about 20 meetings with individuals, Aboriginal governments and people involved in industry. As we get towards developing our Oil and Gas Strategy – and we will be at the earliest opportunity – I mentioned in my statement the other day that we will be getting in front of SCEDI and the Regular Members and getting their input on the developments of an Oil and Gas Strategy for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
In terms of just starting the process of consultation, I’d like to ask the Minister, has he had any consultation with Aurora College and learning centres? Specifically in Inuvik, they have that mobile trades unit that can go into the communities and train our individuals on these particular appropriate trades and skills for the oil and gas sector when that economy picks back up.
Has he had those consultations with Aurora College to start developing those kinds of trades programs so that we’ll have people trained and educated and ready to take the jobs when the economy picks back up?
Having an able-bodied workforce and people ready to take advantage of the jobs that are going to be coming in the oil and gas sector is very important. I know we had a focus group session in Inuvik recently. I’d have to go back to the department. I’m not sure if Aurora College or folks from ECE were at that meeting. I’ll get that information for the Member. Thank you.
I appreciate the efforts that are going into this Oil and Gas Strategy and looking at trying to get our resources out to market. However, we do have two communities in the Northwest Territories that are actually surrounded by oil and gas and having issues with their gas situation, and that’s Norman Wells and Inuvik.
I wonder if, in this strategy, whether or not the Minister would look at… We’re building all this infrastructure and roads with the Canada Building Fund, once that gets approved, to get our resources out to market. I’m thinking about a different type of infrastructure in terms of… Can we get some infrastructure built to one of the wells near Inuvik so that we can start supplying natural gas back to the community, which will lower the costs for residents, for the businesses and also lower costs for this government as we’re paying all that money to trucking up all the LNG and paying for all those bills that we have our government buildings on diesel? Is that going to be part of the strategy, building this other type of infrastructure?
Utilizing the resource that we have here in the Northwest Territories for our own residents and our own communities certainly is something that we should be striving toward, and of course with Inuvik being surrounded, as the Member mentioned, with gas, and the construction of the Inuvik-Tuk highway, there could perfectly be opportunities here as we move forward to get more gas into Inuvik, into Tuktoyaktuk and other communities in the Mackenzie Delta as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to hear that that’s a possibility. I want to make sure that there’s an assurance to that.
When this strategy is being developed and with the Inuvik-Tuk highway being developed, as well, can the Minister ensure residents of the Beaufort-Delta that infrastructure will be on the agenda to get the oil and gas back to the communities of Inuvik and possibly Tuktoyaktuk when we’re developing the strategy? Thank you.
Of course, infrastructure is a key to any success we are going to have in the oil and gas sector as we continue to develop our resources here in the territory. I would encourage residents in the Mackenzie Delta and in the Beaufort region to go online because we are going to have a survey online. I would encourage Members, when we do have consultation with Members, to continue to highlight that fact.
Undoubtedly, infrastructure will be a key part of the Oil and Gas Strategy on how we get our resources developed. So, again, I would encourage the Member and residents to please take part in the consultation process as it plays itself out. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
