Our intention, of course, is to protect the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories, to work with the regulatory authorities, and to work with industry to do the things required. I can’t speak for what has been done by the federal government but our intention is to make sure that we’re not left liable,

that we’re not left unprotected and without the proper securities in place.

That’s all I had. I just wanted to make sure that we have that commitment. I know the Minister would agree that a Giant Mine would not be something that this government could handle casually as the federal government is.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. We’ll treat that one as a comment here. Page 13-17. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I need to just go back and try to make sure I clearly understand how things are going to work around contaminated sites here. If I’m doing a development, I’ve gone to a board and I’ve got my licence and they’re going to grant me my licence and they tell me I have a payment schedule, there are two things and they both have to do with enforcement. Who is going to make sure that I keep to that schedule? If I do not, where does the enforcement come from? If, during the life of my project, which is 10 or 20 years, but after 20 years it’s determined that the liability for remediation has gone up and it’s now $2 million instead of $1 million, who enforces on me the need to put up that extra security? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we proceed down the path to April 1st , we have this development assessment

process we are setting in place with Lands, ITI, ENR. As projects come through the door, there’s going to be basically a checklist and a layout of what needs to get done by whom during the different stages of the application process. Then once they’re in business, the monitoring of the various parts of the operation including the remediation if it’s required, the securities, and the enforcement. That’s one of the benefits of having an integrated coordinated approach and we’re going to be able to do that with the three main departments as well as departments like Finance that have a role to play with environmental liabilities as Ms. Magrum pointed out. Thank you.

So, I think the Minister is telling me to kind of wait and see, but I’m still not really hearing that, as a government, we know how we’re going to force companies to put up the security if they don’t for whatever reason. I guess I need to know from the Minister and maybe it’s not firm yet, but are we thinking about taking people to court? Are we thinking about pulling licences? What sorts of things do we have to enforce the securities that have been determined for a particular project? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the schedules put up by the boards will contemplate making sure that we have money in the bank before

the project starts, that we want to make sure that we have the protected integrity of the regulatory process, that we have securities that reflect the need, the potential requirements for reclamation and remediation. If they want to get their permits, they’re going to have to meet those requirements that are going to be laid out through that process. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister. I understand that, but you also said or somebody said that the payment is going to be on a schedule established by the board. I presumed that schedule would not be in advance of the licence. I presumed it would be I get my licence and then I pay over a number of years. Pardon me, Mr. Minister, but I’m getting a little confused or I have been confused and I’m trying to just find out where we’re going. I’m happy if you tell me that these things are going to be worked out and you will advise Members and committee later on down the line, but it’s a real concern for me that we are setting ourselves up for potential unsecured liabilities where we’re going to be left as a government to look after sites, maybe not as big as Giant but like Giant, where we just don’t have the capacity to deal with contaminated sites.

Looking at what’s happening now is probably a lot of the reason why I’m concerned about what’s going to happen as we go forward. I don’t think right now we have adequate security for the operating sites that we have within the territory.

Pardon me for asking the same questions over and over, but I just don’t feel much love in terms of the fact that we’re going to be secure when this is all said and done. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Our intention is to make sure that we proceed April 1st . We’re not

going to be licensing projects with no security, with hoping that they’re going to put money in. I mean, the federal system, I can’t speak to that, I’m not that knowledgeable about it. I don’t know how much slack they cut people, but the commitment has been very clear from the government that we intend to protect the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories on a go-forward-basis. There’s no intention of getting by on goodwill and don’t worry, trust us, we’ll be there if you need it. We’re going to be looking to work with the boards and the regulatory process to put the appropriate securities in place, that they are in a fund in a way that protects our interest, that the inspections are done and that we have a system that can stand that kind of scrutiny and we don’t end up coming back here in a year or two years with all sorts of enormous liabilities because we allowed development to go ahead without the proper protections. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I understand. I know that we’re both coming from the

same place and I accept his reassurance, but I would like to know from the Minister if that reassurance is written in a policy. Is there a policy somewhere that you can point me to? Or will there be a policy either before April 1st or as soon as

possible after April 1st which will lay out just what

the Minister said so that we are not left, as a government and as a territory, looking after liabilities that we didn’t create? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, there’s an interest by the government to be able to come to committee and do a detailed briefing about the regulatory authorities, the processes that are currently in place that are going to continue to be in place and how we’re going to refine those now that our role is response as a government where we’re going to be our own regulator. We take over the authorities that were previously with the federal government and that would include being able to have that discussion on securities. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Committee, we’re on page 13-17. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be happy to have those discussions, which are huge in their absence as of this date. But what the heck, we have 25 days to go or something. I think it’s a very legitimate request. Where is this written down? The Minister has been saying what’s actually fact. I want to see the legislation. I want to see the policy. Would the Minister provide that? If it doesn’t exist, tell us it doesn’t exist and the intent is to do it. The Member, my colleague Ms. Bisaro, requested, asked where is this legislation or this policy. The Minister responded, well, let’s have a discussion. No, no, no. What can I say? We’re 25 days out here. I want to see it. I am making the same request. Please show it to me. Please tell me we don’t have it but we’re going to do it and it’s going to be in place on April 1st .

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will provide all the existing policies and directives that govern securities and then will continue to be in place and that will potentially at that point, as we devolve and evolve, may require adjusting, but we will pull that together. We have the National Energy Board. It has set security requirements, but we will pull those documents together from across the territory and we will make sure that they are passed on to committee.

I appreciate that commitment. Will this bunch of documents include an NWT document and policy that requires financial security be in place before the project is approved?

We’ll provide what is currently there and what we see as required next steps. Thank you.

I guess that means that maybe one doesn’t exist, but anyway, we’ll have to wait and see. So, so be it.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’ll take that just as a final comment. Committee, 13-17, activity summary, environment, operations expenditure summary, $8.197 million. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Alternative Energy Program, I note that it’s reduced considerably from ’13-14 to ’14-15 and yet I see some new programs added towards the bottom of that page, so have we split this program up into a number of them, or have we just dropped a whole bunch in the Alternative Energy Program? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.