Yes, I would, Madam Chair.
Debates of March 11th, 2014
This is page numbers 4327 – 4378 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th 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 health.
Topics
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you. I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort
the witnesses in. Premier McLeod, could you once again introduce your witnesses for the record.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob McLeod Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is Mark Aitken, the ADM with the Department of Justice, and to my left is Jamie Fulford, legal counsel with the Department of Justice.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Bill 11, Petroleum Resources Act. General comments. Mr. Dolynny.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Daryl Dolynny Range Lake
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, welcome back to the Premier and team here. Just some clarification questions within this act, and I know that this is mirror legislation, and I know that we don’t want to delay implementation, but I need to understand a couple of things within this act a little bit more clearly. Within the act it talks about these exploration licences and the fact that there’s a waiting period and everything else. Do we have people right now currently waiting for this act to pass that are kind of sitting in stasis for an exploration licence?
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Fulford
Thank you, Madam Chair. In answer to the question, I am not aware of any specific instances, but I can say that if there are people in the chain of approvals that their applications get continued over under this legislation, so if they had an application that was made under the federal act it would be continued just as if it had been made under this act.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Daryl Dolynny Range Lake
The purpose of my question is to make sure that we are providing due process for those applicants, that we’re not superficially making them wait to get our affairs in order. Again, I haven’t had any calls to action on that, but I think it’s important that we recognize that.
Embedded within this act it also talks about a regulator. Can we define who is this entity or individual or is it a company that they’re involved with, the regulations or the regulator of the significant passages of this act?
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Fulford
I believe the Member is referring to the regulator as defined in the act, and it’s the same regulator that’s defined in the Oil and Gas Operations Act. The regulator is defined as the regulator essentially chosen by Cabinet. The reasoning behind the choice in the mirroring was twofold. I would say that first it was a matter of flexibility, and second, and probably more importantly, was just with the timing constraints that we had the regulator needed to be in place as of April 1st . One of the choices might have been to
constitute a quasi-judicial tribunal but that would have required separate legislation and likely consultation with the other parties, so that was
basically the reasoning behind the drafting choice of the definition of regulator.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Daryl Dolynny Range Lake
I appreciate the explanation there. That does provide a bit more clarity, because I know that term has come up a couple times and I know Members have spoken on, so I want to make sure we’re talking about the same process between each act.
Lastly, under the part of royalties, it references the Commissioner and the Executive Council. Can we define what that position or who that person is, just for the record.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Aitken
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The Commissioner and the Executive Council is defined in the Interpretation Act as being the Commissioner acting by and with the advice of the Cabinet.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Aitken
It’s actually two separate entities acting in concert. The Commissioner, of course, is the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. The Executive Council is the Cabinet, and when it makes a decision, it makes a decision as a group, and so it makes a recommendation to the Commissioner who then signs the final approval.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Daryl Dolynny Range Lake
When I read a passage where it says Section 47(3) it says the Commissioner in Executive Council, so that means that the Commissioner, our current Commissioner is working on behalf of the Cabinet or is it with the Cabinet? Is it independent of the Cabinet or is it Commissioner and Cabinet working collectively as one signatory? I need clarification on that.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Aitken
The provision 47.(3) says the Commissioner and Executive Council may by order, so the procedure would be a proposed order brought before Cabinet. Cabinet would approve the order. A record of decision would be made. The record of decision would be provided by the Commissioner, who, acting upon the advice of Cabinet, would sign off the order, at which point it would be registered by the registrar of regulations, it would be a final instrument as of that time. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Michael Nadli Deh Cho
Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is in terms of fracking. I know that it’s a practice that is happening here in the NWT and now that we’ve taken responsibility from the National Energy Board, the functions of this act in terms of regulating control and activities related to oil and
gas, I wanted to ask if there are any further advances that this government might undertake in terms of trying to add our further substance to the guidance document that this government has developed in overseeing fracking and practices and how it could be employed here in the North. Mahsi.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Fulford
Thank you, Madam Chair. Hydraulic fracturing is an operation that would be regulated under the Oil and Gas Operations Act, which is also before the Committee of the Whole. That act provides the ability for guidelines to be made that could further give shape to how that operation is regulated, but that is not something that would be done under the Petroleum Resources Act. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a number of questions here. I’m trying to understand some of the implications, I think, of the wording in the act. I’d like to start with the change of language from the Canada Petroleum Resources Act to the NWT act and the change from the Canada act to the NWT act is that the National Energy Board is the regulator for the Canadian act, or the federal act, and then in the territorial legislation anywhere where NEB is referenced, it’s changed to the regulator and we know that that regulator is the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region the NEB will continue to act as regulator.
So I have two questions. Why did we not continue to use the NEB as a regulator within this territorial act, particularly when the NEB remains the regulatory for the Inuvialuit Settlement Region? So, what’s the rationale for going to a different regulator for most of the NWT, but keeping the NEB for the ISR? Thank you.