Thank you, Mr. Chair. The social and environmental measures outlined in the report, even with the modifications government propose, will cost this government, our government, us, huge sums. I have seen no estimate of these sums and I will be asking Cabinet to report on the work underway to assess the total cost of the huge new responsibilities and demands this project would create. I should say I will re-ask. I’ve asked before and gotten no response.

Of course, there is the option that Cabinet could simply say that it cannot agree with the recommendations because it would cost too much. But if that’s going to happen, what happens to the argument that this project will contribute to the sustainable economic and social well-being of the Territory?

If the wisdom of the JRP is that huge social and environmental shockwaves will result, that will require huge new expenditures to mitigate, how could the government refuse to insist upon these measures and still claim that the project provides net sustainable benefits? And if we do agree with the recommendations, how are we going to pay to meet them? Discussion should already by underway with the federal Minister of Finance, which I’ve also asked before, to identify these resources and get the new funding in place.

However, I am very pleased to see the Joint Review Panel recommendation 15-11, which says that even if a revenue sharing agreement is not in place, “the Government of Canada set aside 50 percent of the non-renewable resource royalty revenues it receives from the Mackenzie Gas Project to be held in trust for the Government of the Northwest Territories and aboriginal authorities.” This Joint Review Panel report could be the first page of our eventual devolution of responsibilities from the federal government. Resource royalty sharing arrangements recommended by the panel in the report are in line with this Assembly’s intent to establish a heritage fund and provide a mechanism to fill it. This recommendation, 15-11, must be vigorously supported.

The final general thing I’d like to point out, from my reading of the Joint Review Panel report and the proponents’ responses, is that it has loopholes of timing and implementation that are unacceptable. In many instances, going into action or even preparing to go into action to mitigate impacts is dependent upon when the decision is made to proceed. In many cases, if we wait for the project to proceed, this will be too little, too late. Once this project proceeds, if it proceeds, we will have to be well along in our preparations. Pegging our preparations on the whim of the developer is not good enough.

So, Mr. Chair, in summary: the Joint Review Panel was saddled with a difficult undertaking. It was created to jointly provide for the functions of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, Inuvialuit Game Council provisions, Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, and other processes and land claims. While recognizing the provisions for industry and Northerners’ input, we must have the ability to control the pace and scale of development to ensure the sustainability that the act provides for.

The Joint Review Panel gave it their best shot and in my mind they did a good job. They concluded it could go ahead -- exciting news -- but with essential conditions. Without meeting these conditions they concluded the project should not go forward because it could not be done in a way that is economically, socially or environmentally sustainable.

This government seeks devolution of responsibility and resource revenue sharing from the federal government. Well, Mr. Chair, here is a chance to demonstrate our worthiness to all governments, federal, aboriginal and municipal. Mr. Chair, let’s take the high road and have this government meet the quality of work provided by the JRP. Let’s fully endorse the conditions that must be met to make this truly sustainable development with the many benefits that we want for our people and with the minimal impacts we expect for our land.

That concludes my general remarks at this time, Mr. Chair. Thank you.