Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up today on Mr. Bromley’s statement from Monday and express my concerns with the response from the Giant Mine Remediation Team, their response to the recommendations in the environmental assessment report from the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board about the Giant Mine Remediation Project.

It’s been almost four months since the Mackenzie Valley Review Board released its final report on the old gold mine’s remediation. I’m on record that I was pleased with the report’s recommendations, recommendations which directed the federal government to go above and beyond the existing cleanup plan, recommendations which responded to the concerns of residents and Aboriginal governments.

The report has 26 recommendations and it lays out a solid and a collaborative path for remediation. The MVERB report was positive and reflected the views of NWT residents, Yellowknife city council,

the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the North Slave Metis Alliance, Yellowknife Members of the Legislative Assembly, and our local MP, Dennis Bevington. All have indicated their support for the recommendations.

Now we hear from the proponent, the remediation project managers, one of whom represents the GNWT, “The cleanup team has a responsibility, like any other project proponent, to answer questions and explain how the review board’s report would affect its proposal to clean up the mine. That may include doing cost estimates.” I’m sure they do have that responsibility, but it gives rise to a number of real concerns for me.

It concerns me that the developer, the Remediation Project Team, is the same organization as the decision-maker, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, or AANDC. It concerns me that AANDC is getting internal input from the cleanup team on the report. If the team is providing new information to whoever is going to be putting together the response for the Minister, will anyone else have the same opportunity? It concerns me that government officials who have the final say on the project seem to be evaluating the review board’s recommendations based on cost.

The cleanup is already expected to cost almost $1 billion, and in the grand scheme of things, the added cost resulting from the review board’s recommendations are but a drop in the bucket. Costs should not be a limiting factor in doing the project the right way.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted