This is page numbers 3303 – 3322 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.

Topics

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

The committee just met just recently. I believe the meetings required are on an as-needed basis between the parties, their availability and when the best time to meet will be. They will be providing recommendations to myself for the spring of 2014. I will be moving forward on it and working with the Members. I believe it will be on an as-needed basis when meetings are required. Mahsi.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. I’m glad to hear the Minister say he’s going to work with the Members, so I look forward to see the results of this committee and what they’re proposing. My question about timing is a little more long term. I realize they may or may not meet while they prepare the results of this meeting held just last month.

Can the Minister tell me what the intention is of the department for his committee on an ongoing basis? Will they meet twice a year, will they meet four times a year, will they meet every two years, et cetera?

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

The timelines will be established by the said committee. My department will be working with the committee to establish those timelines. If it’s going to be once or twice a year or on a quarterly basis, we will soon find out. They just met this past October, this past month. I will keep Members apprised as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding was when this committee was established that the periods when they would meet, the frequency of their meetings was established in the terms of reference for that committee. Can the Minister advise me whether that is so? Thank you.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

The terms of reference has been highlighted and it does highlight a number of meetings, so it would capture when those committee members will be meeting, so I will be sharing that with the Members. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Question 431-17(4): Hydraulic Fracturing
Oral Questions

October 31st, 2013

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I continue to have questions and concerns raised to me by constituents around the issue of fracking in the Northwest Territories. There is so much information out there on this topic. People read it and they are concerned. We’ve had members of the EDI committee who have gone on investigative tours to see how this process is impacting other jurisdictions and this information has come back. I’d like to ask the Minister some really simple questions.

In terms of fracking, what is the status of approvals for this activity in the Northwest Territories at this time? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the news came out that ConocoPhillips got approval for their application. Thank you.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

If I had to convey comfort to people who are concerned about this, is the Minister able to comment on the environmental review and assessment and approval process that is in place? Since this is something relatively new in our territory, is he able to comment on the effectiveness of the approval processes that are currently in place for this activity? Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We are using the existing processes. We’ve offered our best guidance, advice and position, as a government, in a document in terms of best practices on fracking that has gone to committee, which we are looking on feedback for. It has been developed in conjunction with the regulators and we intend, once it goes to committee, to put it out to the public and industry.

We are also, as a government, as we look at post-devolution, looking at the structure of the regulatory regime so that we can design a northern controlled, made-in-the-North, resident-in-the-North regulatory process, all of which are going to allow us, I believe, to manage the risk and balance between the resource development and sustainable protection of the environment. Thank you.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

So, nothing about our approval or assessment process has changed specifically in relation to fracking, which is something, as we said, relatively new.

On the issue of a timeline for the kind of things that Minister Miltenberger is referring to, how far down the road of approvals for this activity are we going to go before these things that Mr. Miltenberger refers to are actually in place? Are there a lot of companies out there, or even ConocoPhillips… Is there a lot more of this activity imminent at this time? Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We are working closely with the current federal regulator, which is the National Energy Board. They’ve just released their filing requirements a few weeks back as it pertains to hydraulic fracturing on their requirements. For example, the disclosure is there of fluids on a voluntary basis. They are encouraging industry to make sure that they do disclose. We are told as a government that it’s an industry best practice that there be public disclosure. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers agrees. We are working with all the various parties to come up with a guidance document. So this is going to continue to evolve. We are going to make improvements, but we currently have the processes in place that are working. After devolution, the governance piece is going to be looked at and we are going to continue to look at what we need to do to have the best system possible.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and a well-known keen champion of the protection of our environment, our land, our water, our resources, I’d like to ask the Minister if he is satisfied at this time with these approvals going forward, given the additional work, obviously, that still needs to be done. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

We are collectively in the practice of managing risk. In this case, we are doing that and I’m of the opinion – and I’ve stated this already and I will restate that for the Member – as a government that we can manage that risk. There are things we have to do for clarity, for prudence on a go-forward basis and devolution is going to allow us to do some of those things. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today we heard the announcement from the new Minister of Human Resources and I’d like to welcome him to the file. Clearly, this is a great announcement that we have here before us. I want to make sure, for the record, that it was a lot of pressure for this side of the House that has been applied as of late. Again, we had numerous numbers of fines, double fines, some of those fines to the tune of over three-quarters of a million dollars. We did talk about a lot of increased claims growth that the GNWT had. It was clear that we needed a definite change in direction to make sure we had a safer GNWT. My questions today will be for the new Minister of Human Resources.

Can the Minister indicate prior to today’s announcement, how many full-time safety officers did the GNWT have for its almost 5,000 member workforce? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know how many full-time safety officers that the GNWT had. However, I do know that this is a piece of work that has been in the works for seven years. It has taken a lot of work and lots of reviewing of a lot of acts and regulations. In fact, there were 14 different health and safety acts and regulations that were reviewed in order to come up with this agreement and this partnership with the Northern Safety Association.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

I think I know the answer to my question because I just did a little bit of research on our website. I think we had one. We had one member for almost 5,000 employees, which is kind of a paltry number, if I do say so.

With today’s announcement, how many more safety officers will the GNWT acquire?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

I recognize that this agreement with the Northern Safety Association allows them to go out and get some specialists in certain fields. I am told by the individuals from that organization and the department that this will actually be an agreement that will assist us in the issues that were recognized in the House here over the last couple of years, where there were some fines and so on levied by the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission from workplace injuries and so on, and how they would try to focus in on the key areas that we’ve identified in the House; the hospitals, the corrections centres, and so on, where there’s high incidences of those type of injuries and workplace accidents. I think this is a move in the right direction, so I believe this is something that we’re going to all benefit from.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

I appreciate the Minister’s response. I agree; claims that we’ve had, claims growth that we’ve had and fines, like I said, well over three-quarters of a million dollars. Clearly, we had to take a new directional change in our department safety and our government safety.

With that, with this new initiative there has got to be some cost forecasts that were done by the government. Can the Minister say what will it cost for the implementation of this new direction in safety?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Although I am prepared to provide the cost to the Member, I don’t have the cost of the partnership agreement between ourselves and Northern Safety here with me today, but I’m sure that I can get that very quickly.