Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been over a year and a half since Royal Oak Mines was ordered into receivership. The workers at the mine and people in this community have had to deal with the emotional and economic scars left by the loss of jobs, reduced severance packages, and under-funded pension plan.
Mr. Speaker, the issue that will continue to hang over all our heads in this community for years to come, is that of the need for the environmental clean-up at Giant Mine. Mr. Speaker, this is a federal government problem. For over 50 years, Giant Mine operated under federal regulations and the federal government reaped the benefits of the royalties, but it is now the people of the North who are stuck with the huge liability of this potential environmental disaster. This environmental danger includes contaminated tailings ponds, the residue from fuel spills, and storage drums full of arsenic trioxide dust. Mr. Speaker, that is only on the surface.
What if the 260,000 tons of arsenic dust buried deep in the mine starts to seep into our watershed? The environmental implications are horrible. What commitment has DIAND made thus far to address these concerns? Well, for the surface reclamation, small contracts this year and last for under $500,000, which amount to a drop in the bucket towards the $16 million estimated cost of what is needed to clean up the surface.
What about the estimated $250 million cost over 20 years for the underground clean-up? Mr. Speaker, DIAND's response in June was to reduce this year's clean-up budget by over 30 percent to just $3 million and with the majority of that money going to the Colomac Mine clean-up.
DIAND's Royal Oak team, who was focussing on the clean-up of the two mines, even had to be dissolved in July due to the lack of funding. Mr. Speaker, I understand that recently the Royal Oak team under DIAND has been re-established, but there does not seem to be any long-term planning or direction. This issue is too important to leave to federal whims. Our government must make this a priority. We must demand that the federal government make the necessary commitments to address this environmental nightmare that looms over us all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause