Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I think of fracking, I’m often reminded of the saying “you can’t unring a bell.” What that basically means is that once you’ve done it, you’ve done it and you
can’t take it back. As we all have come to learn, fracking is certainly not for everyone and not for every region where it could happen. So it puts the utmost importance upon each and every one of us to consider this problem.
Do we do it right or do we do it because we want it? I think this opportunity here is the chance to do it right. Everyone knows industry’s interests and industry wouldn’t be here in the Northwest Territories if they didn’t have an interest. Just because they aren’t fracking today doesn’t mean they won’t be fracking in the future. Just because industry wants to, doesn’t necessarily mean I want them to.
I understand the complexity around this problem. I think it’s a challenge we will never fully understand or appreciate all the information. Frankly, I don’t have the lifetime to imagine how much information one argument can propose at the same time another argument can propose. What I am finding is we have so much information, it gets meshed in there somewhere and we are doing the best we can. On that, I think we need to take the time to find out if fracking is right for the Northwest Territories.
Now, we know some of it has happened and we know it happens around other provinces, and even states, such as places like Alberta, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. I have had the opportunity to visit sites in Saskatchewan and certain places in North Dakota. I am deeply confident the Northwest Territories will never ever allow our land to look like North Dakota. I certainly don’t believe that will ever be the case. Under no condition I can imagine standing and allow this to happen, because frankly, I can’t believe what they’ve done and put the balance at risk in such a manner, that I’m deeply worried.
We must do fracking under the conditions that are meaningful and representative of the values of the Northwest Territories. In this case, that could actually mean no fracking. We need public input that tells us the right way to do it. I only support fracking under the principles under the immense – and I want to be very clear here, Mr. Speaker – the immense regulations that represents best practices used throughout not only Canada but the world. Let us take this opportunity to do things right. We don’t have an oil company pounding at our door, saying if you don’t approve this application today, we’re going to pull money out; we’re going to make sure people don’t work and we’re not coming back. We don’t have that pressure today. We are well aware of the most recent of a company deciding to pull out, re-evaluate its options and reconsider where they plan to go in the future. What better time than to pause and say to ourselves if we want fracking, under what conditions can we support it? As I said at the beginning, fracking is not for everyone.
Many people in the Sahtu – I wish to tip my hat to them – want these opportunities. I would be the last person to stand in the way of the aspirations of the people making their own decisions. At the same time, we do have people in the Sahtu who are worried about what decisions are being made. This type of pause, this type of reflection can benefit everyone, both those for and certainly those against. As I said earlier, immense regulation is the step that we need to consider if this is the right approach.
As a Member, I often hear from constituents very strongly. They either feel very strongly positively or very negatively about a particular issue. Interestingly enough, the people who were very positive about this tended to speak to the issue of making sure we have jobs for people. I want to ensure that the Sahtu has opportunity and I take every occasion to ensure that I do support that. Member Yakeleya knows I’m with him when it counts.
We always must balance the interests of the few, the oil companies, over the many. That’s why we must find ways to do it.
As I said earlier, I would support the principles of fracking under immense regulations and my support would have to be built around the fact that those regulations need to be transparent, available for full public input in a manner that makes sense. If the Sahtu wishes to proceed with this – and there may be other areas across the Northwest Territories – we must remember that there are communities, families downstream of these opportunities. We must never forget about those people, those families, those communities or those regional governments. In essence, they are just waiting for whatever comes downstream, so we must ensure that they are fully on our minds when we make decisions.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to support this motion because I think now is the time, more than ever, to do the work, work that our committee and Members like myself have been looking forward to. I was completely elated to hear the most recent statement that appeared to be a shock and I never thought was coming. I’m glad the government is now considering looking at regulations, because frankly, up to a day or two ago, I never thought they would. So this is the time to do the hard work. This is the time to get the public input. This is the only time to get it right.
As I began my statement, I’m going to finish it. You cannot unring a bell. If you poison the well, you poison the river. You cannot fix it. So let us be darn sure we do what we do in a manner that takes care of the environment and people for time immemorial. Thank you.