Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Minister about disposal of hazardous waste. I know that when he was on his constitutional talks, he was able to communicate with Mr. Horsman, who was the Deputy Premier of Alberta of the time and responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs. I believe that Mr. Kakfwi was able to get some agreement on disposing some of our wastes in Swan Hills. We made a choice, in other words. Instead of building our own facility to look after our own waste we decided to export it. It is kind of nice to export something for change. The story I hear is we pay something like $2,000 for every 50 kilograms of junk they burn for us. If we had looked at having our own capital facility so we can get rid of it ourselves, we may have created some jobs if there was enough work. Maybe the answer is we just don't produce enough waste to justify doing it ourselves. That is the only question I have. Did you look at the possibility of developing our own waste management program so we wouldn't have to export it to Alberta and pay $2,000 for every 50 kilograms they burn for us? That was a quote...(Microphone turned off)
Debates of Dec. 3rd, 1993
Topics
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 411
Brian Lewis Yellowknife Centre
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 411
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 411
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Mr. Chairman, it was my understanding, maybe four years ago, that the amount of capital required to build such a facility was out of range for our government, and also other governments in Canada. Alberta, through their budget, were able to afford such a facility. It has been the desire of this department of government to try to reach some sort of an agreement with the Government of Alberta to allow us to ship our hazardous waste to them and have them dispose of it for us. Mr. Allooloo, the former Minister, with his officials reached an agreement recently with the Government of Alberta to that end. I know it has taken a number of years to conclude but it has been done. As I say, the reason we haven't built one is we cannot afford it. It is quite an expensive item, as far as I know.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 411
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 411
Brian Lewis Yellowknife Centre
Could you give us some idea of what we actually spend? I don't know how much we ship to them, but do you
have a ball park figure how much it costs us to burn our waste down there?
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Handley
Mr. Chairman, we don't have a total of how much. The territorial government, itself, doesn't produce a lot of hazardous waste. As a government, we don't own much, therefore, our costs are going to be minimal. The policy we have is whoever generates the waste is responsible for having it taken to Alberta and destroyed. The mines or the Power Corporation, for example, or whoever generates it would do it. The total amount that we have, if it was all done away with including the federal government's share, we are probably looking at maybe several hundred thousand dollars. The cost of building a waste treatment facility to treat all kinds of waste would be several hundred million dollars. The dollars would not make it worthwhile for us to do that.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Titus Allooloo Amittuq
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know our government, and this Legislative Assembly, some time ago agreed that in the consolidation of departments that department would be responsible for parks. In this capital budget we don't see parks included in Renewable Resources. I don't believe it is not in the minds of Cabinet Ministers to move parks over to Renewable Resources, but it is a question of time. When are parks planned to go over to Renewable Resources so their capital will be included in the department?
Also, I would like to state that the reason parks should be under Renewable Resources is because this department has personnel in every community and parks doesn't. There are not parks officers in every community. We could eliminate parks people, therefore, saving the government money. When are you planning to put the two together? Thank you.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
Mr. Chairman, there has been some discussion with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism about the reorganization and the transfer of that section. It is put on hold. If they are still in agreement to go with the move, the question is when would be a good time for it and we haven't reached any conclusions yet. There are a number of other priorities of government, so we felt it would not offend anyone to take time to look at it.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Titus Allooloo Amittuq
Thank you. Is there a question now whether parks should move over to Renewable Resources?
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
There have been some concerns raised with the proposed move. The reason for the temporary halt is to deal with those concerns and to make sure what we are doing is done right and for the right reasons. We are halting to deal with internal concerns that have been raised.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Titus Allooloo Amittuq
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is it my understanding now that parks may not be moved over to Renewable Resources?
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
I am not certain I can answer that. We, as the Department of Renewable Resources, are more than willing to receive it if the other department would agree to let it go. We are prepared to do the work. We work as a team and if there are some concerns raised then we have to work through them. We have been doing that.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Titus Allooloo Amittuq
I know Economic Development and Tourism also does the fish assessment in order to establish quotas. In order to make things simpler, since Economic Development doesn't have a person in every community who has a vehicle and equipment to do those assessments, and Renewable Resources does, is that also being looked at to move to Renewable Resources? It makes sense to be in that department.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu
There are discussions with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, especially in the areas of fish quotas and the other work that is currently done by that department, to share the work that should more naturally be under Renewable Resources. As I say, we're willing to discuss and take it if we can reach an agreement.
Committee Motion 50-12(4): To Adopt Recommendation 19, Carried
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 412
The Chair Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Ningark, Member for Natilikmiot.