Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make a few brief comments on the huge issue of regulatory reform and the resource management regime and make some suggestions for progress we can make now.
This issue has been moving on and off the back burner for as long as there has been resource management regulation. All players -- government, industry, aboriginal groups, non-government organizations and regular citizens -- agree that the systems are complicated and frequently don’t meet the needs of society as a whole or the individuals and groups who have an interest in seeing them work. It is certainly a matter worthy of rigorous review and it is crucial to all our interests that resource management regulation works efficiently and effectively. But we need to make progress.
Lately, Members have been presented with another stack of documents outlining the current state of reviews and the various interests competing to see their needs met. We have the McCrank Report and the GNWT’s approach to regulatory improvement; we have Alternative North’s thoughtful analysis of the McCrank Report; we’ve seen the five-year NWT environmental audit; and we’ve heard a submission in committee from the NWT chambers of Mines, Commerce, and the Construction Association. Where do we go from here?
I’d like us to make a start on the things we can do right now. The analysis we now have in hand contains several points of common agreement that we can move on swiftly.
Board vacancies have to be filled. Board action freezes when quorums can’t be met. This government can make it our business to lead and push, keeping our own appointments up to date
and pressing our partners to make the appointments needed to keep all our business moving. We need to be persistent and insistent. That’s a simple one.
Second, boards can’t work when they are starved for funds. We’ve bought into these processes, so we’re committed to make them work. We can’t let individual cases languish while we look for a solution to overall costs. We must help ensure sufficient resources to allow our processes to work while we look for ways to maximize value across the board.
Finally, this government has shown strong leadership in pursuing comprehensive resource management plans. Everyone agrees that land use planning is a major key to success. Land use plans provide certainty and the essential knowledge base for major decisions. We need to keep the momentum of our leadership going and push forward this major area of common agreement.