Thank you for the opportunity to speak to Bill 15, Oil and Gas Operations Act. The passage of this legislation will be another step towards implementing the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment will administer the Government of the Northwest Territories’ new authorities under the Oil and Gas Operations Act.

Under the Devolution Agreement, the GNWT is obligated to substantially mirror Canada’s statutes and regulations that are being repealed or made inapplicable to lands transferring to the GNWT through devolution.

The mirroring exercise means that the new GNWT laws will address the same matters in substantially the same way as federal laws do now.

Mirroring principles limited changes to addressing issues such as outdated language and applying GNWT drafting standards.

Mirrored legislation is a practical first step to ensure a continued delivery of services on April 1, 2014. Mirrored legislation also ensures that there are no gaps or overlaps between GNWT and federal legislation.

The parties to the Devolution Agreement entered into a Protocol for Review of Devolution Legislation. Under this protocol, all parties have had the opportunity to review and comment on this legislation before it was introduced in the Legislative Assembly. We have considered these comments carefully in the preparation of the bill before you. The Oil and Gas Operations Act governs the exploration, production, processing and transportation of oil and gas in the onshore of the Northwest Territories. It does not apply to operations on lands that will be retained by Canada, such as waste sites and the Norman Wells Proven Area. Further, it does not apply to the Enbridge pipeline, which is a transboundary pipeline that will continue to be regulated by the National Energy Board under the National Energy Board Act.

The purpose of the Oil and Gas Operations Act is to promote safety, protection of the environment, the conservation of oil and gas resources, and joint production agreements.

The Oil and Gas Operations Act also empowers the Minister to approve a benefits plan or waive the requirement for such approval.

I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier McLeod. Do you have witnesses to bring into the House?

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Is committee agreed?

Thank you, Premier. Could you please re-introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right I have Thomas Druyan, legislative council with the Department of Justice. To my left I have Jamie Fulford, legal counsel with the Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. We’ll open general comments to Bill 15. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question has to do with the Premier’s opening remarks. In the very last paragraph he says, “The Oil and Gas Operations Act also empowers the Minister to approve a benefits plan or waive the requirement for such approval.” I have no idea what a benefits plan is. Can I get an explanation please?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Fulford.

Maybe I could ask Mr. Fulford to give me that in plain English. I kind of got half of it, but I don’t really understand what he said. Thank you.

Thanks to Mr. Fulford. That was much easier. I’m just looking at Section 17 here and it seems to me that under Section 17(2), the Minister can waive the requirement for the approval in respect of work or activity. I think that’s the one. Under what circumstances would the Minister waive authorization of work, I guess?

Thanks, Mr. Fulford. I’m still struggling to understand this benefits plan. If you say it applies to everybody, so there’s no need for an authorization. Is this benefits plan specific to the NWT or it’s bigger than that? I’m not really understanding what we’re talking about here. Thank you.

Thanks to Mr. Fulford. I think I kind of get it.

The other thing I wanted to ask about is again related to security and deposits and funds that are required. I believe it’s in Section 10. Section 10 allows for deposits for liability related to loss and damage, but deposits are not mandatory. I suspect I know the answer, but I’m going to ask the Premier or Mr. Fulford anyway. Why are we not making these deposits mandatory? It goes to the whole issue again of financial security and the need to have closure and regulation plans and just the whole protection of our environment issue. Thank you.

Again, it’s just one more thing that I think we need to add to the list of potential amendments to the act. I think, as legislators, we

need to make sure that NWT residents are protected against potential financial liabilities, and we have to make sure that any legislation that we put in place around developments and so on ensures our people are going to be protected, that this government is going to be protected in having to pick up liabilities, whether it be through closure or whether it be through spills or whether it be through just bad practices as an industry.

I wanted to ask a question with regards to a spill. I think it’s in Section 65. Section 65(5) seems to require an inquiry for a bigger spill or event, but it sounds as though the Minister has some discretion in making the inquiry publicly available. Is this again mirroring or is this something where the Minister will have discretion and if he or she doesn’t really think this big spill needs to be released to the public or the report on this spill doesn’t need to be released, that he or she doesn’t have to release it. It kind of, again, goes to why is it not mandatory, that reporting on a major spill is not mandatory? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Druyan.

Thank you, Mr. Druyan. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Druyan. Yes, that’s clear. I’m laughing because the manner in which it’s released could be one page as opposed to 20 pages, and I understand that’s not what you said, so my question then goes to what is going to identify the manner in which it’s released; refers to electronic versus paper versus something else as opposed to you can release it in a manner of, you know, a one-page summary or a 300-page detailed document? Thanks.