I thank the Member for the questions. I guess, first off, it just holds tremendous promise for the region and for the territory. Again, we can’t afford to mess this up. It has to be done right. We’re going to take our time, we’re going to get those guidelines together, and we’re going to work with the communities. There is so much opportunity there. If more wells are drilled and this resource is proven up and gets to a stage where it’s going to be commercially sent somewhere, there’s the existing pipeline south from Norman Wells. In discussions with experts and industry, if the volumes are there, it would necessitate another oil pipeline south from Norman Wells.
Also, there will be large volumes of natural gas and other gas liquids produced as a by-product from the extraction of the shale oil which could potentially lead to a gas pipeline, as well, and opportunities for communities down the Mackenzie Valley for natural gas. That also could potentially bring into sharper focus Mackenzie gas, a stranded resource that
we’ve been trying to get to market for the past 40 years that could certainly bode well for the future of the Mackenzie gas, getting that to market as well. So there are lots of opportunities.
The Member is correct; this is far-reaching. I know MLA Menicoche was talking about some of the impacts recently because of road closures in his communities, as well, and in a resource play like this, that is why all the governments are involved. It’s going to impact the justice system. It’s going to impact schools, health care, social services. All of these government functions are going to be impacted. That’s why it’s so important that everybody is working on the same page and in the same direction when it comes to developing the potential that exists in the Sahtu.
I do think we’re going about it correctly. We need to see some more wells drilled there. It has to be proven up. Then I think the transportation infrastructure is going to follow closely behind that. You can look at Husky building a 40-kilometre all-weather road into one of their exploration leases, and that’s a 40 to 45 million dollar hit to build a road on the other side of the Mackenzie River. We know what it costs to build roads here in the NWT. There is willingness by industry, I would believe in discussions with them, to try to get a road built from Norman Wells to Wrigley. Once that resource is proven up, I think you’ll see that initiative move forward quickly. We’re hopeful that if we keep doing everything correctly and taking the right steps that that, in fact, is going to happen. Thank you, Madam Chair.