Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on the new role that ITI will be assuming as the NWT oil and gas regulator, so my questions are for the Minister of ITI. The Premier and the Minister have said in the House that several options were considered before choosing ITI as our regulator. Could the Minister summarize what those other options were and what were the advantages and disadvantages of each option?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We could have looked at an option that would have left us with the National Energy Board regulating onshore oil and gas activity in the NWT. It was felt that we could look at an integrated resource management approach here in the NWT which would allow us to build the capacity here in the Northwest Territories to regulate the industry ourselves. We wouldn’t be regulated from Ottawa or Calgary. We could build that capacity here at home. We believe we can do that and do it correctly. We’ve got the Land Use and Sustainability Framework. We’ve got the Water

Stewardship Strategy. All of these things are going to be put into the work of our integrated approach to resource management here in the NWT. I think it is way too early to be so critical of something that is so positive.

Being critical is my job. The NEB is playing a big role in enforcing workplace safety standards in the Sahtu, but the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission also has a role to play in regulating the workplace.

Can the Minister explain who will be in charge of workplace safety as of April 1st ? Who will be

inspecting oil and gas work sites to ensure that safety rules are being followed?

That would be the chief safety officer.

It would be interesting to know who that person reports to, the chief safety officer. As our current regulator of oil and gas, the NEB includes consideration of the environment in their assessments. In addition to the land and water permits each project requires, the NEB also considers the potential cleanup liability created by a particular project.

As of April 1st , who will be responsible for assessing

cleanup liabilities? Will it be just the land and water boards or will ITI have a role?

The Member knows full well that we are going to be mirroring federal legislation, the Oil and Gas Operations Act as well as the Petroleum Resources Act. Those pieces of legislation will guide us. For the Member to make assertions that there will be no public hearings, that we are going to throw those to the wayside, things are going to continue to happen here in the Northwest Territories. We will be able to regulate this industry here in the Northwest Territories. We will be able to build a capacity here at home to enable us to do that. The plain fact is that this change will provide for a regulator that is a territorial regulator, not from Calgary, not from Ottawa, but here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure what the Minister was talking about there. He certainly didn’t answer the question. I made no assertions. I was asking, as of April 1st , who will be

responsible for assessing potential cleanup liabilities. Will it just be the land and water boards or ITI? I’m not sure why the defensive answer there. All of these questions lack the clarity we need, considering these things take effect April 1st . I have

to ask why we did not create an NWT version of the NEB as originally intended. A made-in-the-NWT energy board could certainly have taken over from the NEB without generating such controversy and uncertainty so we may mirror legislation, but

somehow we’ve lost a public board for a Cabinet regulator. I would appreciate a response to that. Why did we not create an NWT version of the NEB as originally intended, a made-in-the-North board? Mahsi.

Oil and gas projects here in the Northwest Territories will, again, continue to be subject to environmental regulation under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, which will continue to require public hearings in some circumstances. It’s simply wrong to make an assertion that because of devolution, requirements for public hearings are going to change. That’s not the case. This is going to be our best effort put forward to regulate this industry in the Northwest Territories, build a capacity here at home, and with an integrated approach to resource management in the NWT we believe we can get this right. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use question period today to return to my Member’s statement, which talked about public disclosure of public salaries.

I highlighted that the Mackenzie Valley Review Board has recently, as of Friday, February 28, 2014, taken the courageous step forward of publicizing their honoraria between the board chair and the board. It’s time that this government starts following the example followed by six out of 10 provinces.

My question to the Minister of Human Resources is: What steps can this government take forward in publicizing all our board appointment chairs and members’ honoraria in a similar manner to the Mackenzie Valley Review Board? Can we do this? Will he do this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Legislative authority would have to be changed. The step would be to amend the ATIPP Act and the Public Service Act. Thank you.

I want to thank the team effort on that answer. I could hear various folks giving the answer. How do we amend this act? Would the Minister of Human Resources be willing to bring forward amendments to the Access to Information and Privacy Act to accommodate this type of step that has, as I have highlighted, been done by six out of 10 provinces and, of course, that also now includes the Mackenzie Valley Review Board, who

have all taken the courageous step to publicize their salaries and honoraria. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would be prepared to discuss the ATIPP Act with the Minister of Justice. I will talk to the department about the Public Service Act and any considerations with disclosing salaries. At this time, in the ATIPP, in most incidents with a jurisdiction this size, it is considered an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy to disclose salaries. Thank you.

I look forward to any movement we can make on this particular file. When we often hear that board chairs make between $130,000 and even over $200,000 per year to sit on those boards and we hear that the honoraria for those boards could range anywhere from $150,000 or more, the public wants answers. When we are paying our board folks more than we are paying our teachers, our nurses and even plumbers and policemen, something is wrong.

The next obvious question to the Minister is: What can we do to bring some transparency to some of these board appointment honoraria that need a level of scrutiny, some sunshine on that list to get to the bottom of that? Quite frankly, the public wants to know what they’re paid and they want to see where their money is going.

Again, as I indicated, we would be pleased to look at both the ATIPP Act and the Public Service Act to see if it would be a legislative proposal which would be shared with all committee members. If this House felt that it would be in the best interest of the public to disclose salaries of individuals, then we will move in that direction. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m seeing a small crack at the door here where there seems to be…(inaudible)…to do this. I could go on with great example, but I think the Minister is hearing the issue.

Would the Minister be willing to put this paper together, provide a proposal to committee members on this side of the House before we begin our May session this year? I want to make sure that we start doing this in a timely way. The last thing we want to hear is some day we will get to it, but that means nothing to the public.

Would the Minister be willing to meet the challenge of this particular proposal before May of this year, so we can take a look at this and push up our sleeves and put a little sunshine, which is the best disinfectant, on this problem? Thank you.

Recognizing that the disclosure of salary wages and the number of

individuals that are within that salary range across the GNWT or the boards also give the public a very good indication of where their money is going; recognizing that, if committee still wishes to, in a small jurisdiction such as ours where you will see that Yukon, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island also don’t disclose because they consider those jurisdictions to be too small; recognizing all that, if the Priorities and Planning committee across the floor want a legislative proposal to look at disclosing salaries, then we’ll look at it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.