Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to ask some further questions of the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment on this significant discovery licence that she seems to be poised to issue to Husky Energy. I heard some very disturbing things from the Minister, but I think I'll try to boil it down into fewer, simpler questions, maybe, and see where we get here. Does the Minister have the authority under the amended Petroleum Resources Act to issue significant discovery licences that contain any other terms and conditions? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of ITI.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Section 30.3 of the Petroleum Resources Act does state that the licence "must be in a prescribed form and may contain any other terms and conditions, not inconsistent with this act or the regulations, as may be agreed on by the Minister and the interest owner of the significant discovery licence." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that excellent reading of Section 30.3. Does this mean, then, that an applicant for a significant discovery licence has a veto over terms and conditions?
It doesn't say a veto. It doesn't say that the party must, shall, but it does say, as may be agreed to. Mr. Speaker, as I had said earlier, when the processes come through, if indeed there are to be new calls for bids, which would then move through exploration licence, significant discovery declarations, and all the way through production, this act now governs that entire evolution. This act will create a system, one that is reasonable, one that is certain, one that people can actually understand what is expected of them, and including the fact that you do now have the ability to make these types of additions to the significant discovery licence.
Mr. Speaker, I wasn't a Member at the time when this new act was. I know the MLA certainly was. I'm sure they're familiar with the vision here, which is one that is meant to give more tools to the hands of a Minister before issuing a discovery licence. Look, at the end of the day, it is to be as agreed to. Again, that is why, now, when issuing a call for bid, it's going to be very clear what the expectations through that evolution will be.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I've heard lots of references to what happened in the past by the feds. I don't really care what they did. They didn't do a good job, and it looks like we seem to be bound by that for some reason. In the current exploration licence, this exploration licence covers 175,000 hectares. In there, there's the ability to charge a rental, and the rental varied from $3 up to $8 per hectare. That means, at the end of the exploration licence, we're getting $1.4 million a year in terms of a rental for that exploration licence. That's the same amount the Minister is going to give away with the reduction in the small business tax. Here's a way to make up that revenue. Is the Minister going to impose a rental fee in the significant discovery licence equivalent to what's already in the exploration licence?
This particular discovery licence is the last one that is grandfathered. That was the point I had tried to make earlier. I think I wasn't, perhaps, putting it all together very clearly, but it is a grandfathered one. It's the last one of its kind. Mr. Speaker, I, also, would prefer to look forward into the future and not be talking about items that come forward from the past. Because this particular one and all of the things that it's associated to in the other licences it's associated to don't have a rental fee put into their significant discovery licence, out of simple fairness and out of simple fact, it is not appropriate to take something that was under a previous legal regime. It's already been wedged into this new legal regime where it's already not going to have an indeterminate significant discovery licence. It's going to have only a 15-year licence, and it's going to come with the expectation of having benefit plans if, in fact, there's work. There are significant new benefits under the new regime, but some things, putting in the rental fee, which others that it came up with, didn't have -- Mr. Speaker, on full reflection and the legal review, that's not a fair way to proceed. It's not a good way to show ourselves to have a good reputation for fairness, and it certainly exposes us to legal risk. That's the challenge that I'm faced with, Mr. Speaker. Going forward, this act does give the ability to, from day one when there's a bid, set up a system where there are bids, where there's rental fees and fees that will bring in, hopefully, a better sort of revenue into the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'm not interested in waiting 15 years to reopen the significant discovery licence. The Minister has the ability now to include terms and conditions that will benefit Northerners. She doesn't seem to be prepared to exercise that discretion. My question to the Minister is: in whose interest is she acting in issuing this significant discovery licence, the company's or the public's? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I take my responsibilities as a Minister very seriously. I, certainly, am not going to stand and act in anything other than in the interests of the public of the Northwest Territories, but that includes, Mr. Speaker, an understanding and awareness of the rule of law and legal advice that we might receive as Ministers. I don't act on my own. I don't act without advice. I don't act without looking to the department. I don't act without looking to the Department of Justice when the time is appropriate. This was an usual legal problem. I could see that from day one when it came to my desk. We sought legal advice on how do we proceed fairly as a government? How do we act fairly as a department? How do I take something from the past regime and put it into the new one? I'm acting, in part, on the legal advice. Yes, I have powers to do things, but I am not going to act in a vacuum; I am going to act on the best advice that I have around me. That, Mr. Speaker, is what I am doing here. It is always with the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories, to demonstrate to everyone that we act fairly and in process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
