Mr. Speaker, resource development has long been the foundation of our territory’s economy.

Our rich mining and oil and gas sectors have generated significant employment, skill development and wealth. Vital economic infrastructure that continues to advance economic growth in other sectors was, in many cases, first built to support resource development.

We now have locally owned and operated airlines, hotels, restaurants, construction firms, telecommunications and logistics companies, and service and supply industries. They are evidence of the capacity of northern and Aboriginally owned businesses to leverage investments from resource development and to participate and invest fully in the NWT’s economy as successful business owners, operators and investors.

Our government has never veered from the assertion that the NWT is open for business to socially and environmentally responsible companies that are willing to invest and work with us to ensure benefits from sustainable development accrue to the northern economy and our residents, and to respect and protect the lands, water and environment to which our people and their communities are intrinsically tied.

Last week the National Energy Board and the NWT Geological Survey confirmed what we have known for many years: There is significant oil and gas potential in the Sahtu. Developing this potential will produce jobs and business opportunities for residents in this region and resource royalties to support investments across the NWT.

The announcement validates the GNWT’s ongoing work to complete our territory’s first-ever Call Cycle for Oil and Gas Exploration Rights and to advance the development of an Oil and Gas Strategy that will serve to guide oil and gas development in our territory well into the future.

Exploration and development has slowed, but we are using this opportunity to define the parameters that NWT residents feel are appropriate to both support and protect their families and communities for the future; and by providing a level of certainty and awareness required by proponents of major projects, we are working to renew interest and confidence in our investment climate.

In part, this is the work that was begun several years ago when our government first started looking at hydraulic fracturing and studying best practices related to it. Following devolution, that work further informed the development of new filing regulations for applications for hydraulic fracturing operations in our territory. We did this together, and in recent months we have visited communities to talk about how those regulations would enhance and become part of our regulatory system.

Mr. Speaker, this work and dialogue is not about deciding if hydraulic fracturing will take place in the NWT. In fact, our Devolution Agreement already puts this decision in the hands of NWT residents every time a project is proposed.

Public boards established under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act set the terms of water licences and land use permits. The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review

Board conducts environmental assessments and environmental impact reviews in the Mackenzie Valley, while boards established under the land claim screen and assess development proposals in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. The various boards and regulatory agencies in the NWT hold public hearings and receive submissions from members of the public as well as technical submissions from the GNWT. These arm’s-length boards look at each application, consider all of the circumstances and make well-informed decisions.

It is a system that continues to evolve and has been proven effective in ensuring benefits from the development that has already occurred in our territory flow to NWT residents and businesses. Ours is an integrated and comprehensive process that ensures resource development decisions in the NWT are made in the public interest, informed by appropriate scientific and technical information, best practices, traditional knowledge and public input. It is one based in federal and territorial law as well as in obligations established in settled land claims and self-government agreements.

We recognize that our regulatory system, like hydraulic fracturing itself, is detailed and can be a source of uncertainty. We can and will address this with a focus on increasing the knowledge, understanding and awareness of both legislated and industry processes that will be key to the responsible development of our economy into the future.

Hydraulic fracturing technologies have advanced greatly in recent years, as have the public accountabilities demanded from companies that incorporate this development process. Today we are confident that regions like the Sahtu and the Beaufort-Delta can realize the benefits of their oil and gas resources without harm to the environment, and our proposed regulations will help make sure of that.

We have heard from the public and the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure that more time is needed to review the proposed regulations. We are committed to extending the engagement period until the end of August and beyond, if necessary.

That will give us more time to engage with NWT residents and offer us an opportunity this summer to meet and discuss our work in greater detail during the many gatherings and assemblies that will take place.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has taken the first step beyond simply mirroring the federal requirements that we have inherited and to making the NWT regulatory system our own.

For many years, and through many processes, NWT residents have told us that they place a great deal of value on the land and environment. They

have stressed the need for baseline surface and groundwater information, public disclosure, measures to address air quality, and enhanced reporting. The proposed hydraulic fracturing filing regulations address these priorities and make expectations clear.

Our government will take the time it needs to get the right rules in place for managing oil and gas development in our territory. We will continue to listen to Members, the public and Aboriginal governments as well as business and industry. Once we are satisfied that we have the right solution, we are prepared to move forward with filing regulations that will provide proponents a greater understanding of expectations and requirement before they prepare and submit applications. Should legislative change be necessary to further strengthen regulatory processes in this area, we are prepared to make recommendations for the consideration of the 18th Legislative Assembly.

This important step demonstrates that we are serious about unlocking oil and gas potential in the territory and ensuring that development is conducted in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner.

It will not result in a sudden and unmanageable increase in exploration and development, but they will set the stage for us to realize a future that, like our past, is founded on the responsible and measured development of our territory’s vast resource wealth.

For the last four years, the 17th Legislative Assembly has proudly held a vision of a strong, prosperous and environmentally sustainable Northwest Territories that all residents, families and communities can benefit from.

Our government has long held that the economy and the environment are linked. That understanding is set out in the Sustainable Development Policy that we put into place in 1990. It is reflected in the Land Use and Sustainability Framework that we released last year and it is enshrined in our regulatory system. We want development, but we want development the right way, the responsible way that creates sustainable prosperity for our children and our grandchildren. But we cannot have prosperity without an economy that provides jobs and economic opportunities for people and revenues to our government to invest in infrastructure and deliver programs and services that support our residents to be healthy, educated and self-sufficient.

This is the work that we have and continue to be committed to realizing today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.