Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, just in regard to the discussion about the aboriginal rights and water rights and the quality and quantity and rate of flow that’s in their agreements. I think one thing we’re finding is that you can have all the words in the world, but if you don’t have the baseline data that’s going to be needed to prove your case, it doesn’t stand for anything. I think that as a government, I know in my previous experience on the land and water board, that we’re totally appalled at the federal government. Once they handed that Mackenzie Valley Resources Act over to the Northwest Territories they shut down all the water monitoring stations they had in the Northwest Territories and there was only one in the Yukon at the Snake River. I think, as governments, in order to press your case, you have to have baseline data. I’d like to ask the Minister if we’re doing anything by way of putting monitoring stations in place, say at Fort Smith where the Alberta water flows into the Northwest Territories or at Fort Liard where the water flows from Yukon into the Northwest Territories, and the waters that flow from other drainage systems such as the Peel River from Yukon into the Northwest Territories. I think in order to have an argument about the effects that water is having downstream you have to be able to monitor and develop that baseline that’s going to be needed to argue those cases. I’d like to know what this government is doing to ensure that the monitoring is taking place. If that means that we put our own systems in place, that’s something we can consider. There are remote systems in place that you can monitor from afar. In most cases if you have a community close by like in Fort Smith or Fort Liard, you can monitor right out of the community. It’s just a matter of having that system in the water that monitors the flow of the water and the temperature and taking the tests that will be needed to determine what is in the water. I’d like to know if that is something your department is doing.
David Krutko on Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 25th, 2009. See this statement in context.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
February 24th, 2009
See context to find out what was said next.