This is page numbers 6331 – 6390 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 public.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, if the Minister could tell the House whether, as the Minister, he supports the idea of a moratorium. Yes or no. Mahsi.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I certainly support a balanced approach to this, and that’s where I’m at. I believe we can have a balanced approach. I said this before in the House and I’ll say it again today. We’re not going to be in the energy business unless we’re in the business of protecting the environment, and we need to be in both of those. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement on fracking, as well I have questions for the Minister of ITI. The first question today is, I know the Minister has indicated they’re continuing to do some consultation with the public. Has the department changed any of its presentation? Have they started to include more information on actual hydraulic fracturing and what it does, what it is? Because that’s been one of the questions we’ve been getting from people and the concerns of if we’re getting the information out to people. Not just the regulations, but are we now presenting that to the public? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, later today I’m going to table some information, and a lot of this information we do hand out at public meetings. We have included folks from ENR and there have been people attend meetings

from Lands. They need to be there to help us answer any questions the public might have. A lot of this is an educational opportunity for the government to let people know about the technique, how it works, what the risks are and what the potential benefits are through these draft regulations.

These draft regulations, again, address areas of concern for Northerners, air quality and water quality management, and disclosure. We are going to do our best to ensure that we get this right so that the technique can be regulated here in the Northwest Territories to the best of our ability. Thank you.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

I know they can’t go to all the communities, so I am wondering if the department is looking at another step in this process of consultation on hydraulic fracturing.

Is the department looking at any kind of conference or fracking charrette that we can have members who are interested to participate throughout the Northwest Territories come to a common area to have that discussion? Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Again, the process is playing itself out. We still have some communities that we need to get in and have our meetings. But at the end of that process, we are going to look at other opportunities to work with communities and educate people. I know that Member Yakeleya and I talked about a possible elders summit on hydraulic fracturing in the Sahtu. That is something that I think we could take a look at potentially having sometime. If there are opportunities to get into communities to help educate the public on hydraulic fracturing, we need to take that opportunity. We have some time here. Again, we need to ensure that we get this right.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

My next question is the Minister was talking about the commitment of August. I am just wondering if the Minister will actually extend that to the next session period in September/October to make sure that the Regular Members have the opportunity over the summer to talk to their constituents and give that feedback in the September sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

With the added time, we are going to have the opportunity to get to assemblies so Members can get back to their constituencies to talk to people. We will come back here in August.

Again, if we need some more time, we are sitting again at the end of September, first week of October. We will have to get back in front of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and Regular Members who want to attend that meeting. I would be happy to get that feedback, let the Regular Members know how the process went, what we heard and what the next

steps are going to be. All of this is going to happen in due course. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just wondering if the Minister could look into some of the opportunities that we could get some feedback from the general public. Maybe have a third party do a polling of some of the communities where they are not going in for public consultation to get some feedback. You know, whether you support fracking, if you require more information on it, just to get an indication of where the general public sits on those two topics. Thank you.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We hadn’t contemplated doing any polling. We are going to move forward with the plan that we have. If we need to make adjustments to that plan, we will do that. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a follow-up to my Member’s statement, as well, I would like to ask the Minister, will the department open up the requests from communities to have the Department of ITI travel to the communities on the regulations for horizontal hydraulic fracturing? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve had some communities that we have had public engagement sessions in. If the Member has a community that we haven’t been in that he believes would benefit from us going to the community to talk about the draft regulations, we could entertain a letter from the community and take things from there. Like I said, we have some more time and if we get requests from communities, we will take that into consideration. Thank you.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Out of all eight communities in the Beaufort-Delta region, they only travelled to Inuvik, so I welcome and invite the Minister to all three of my communities if that’s possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Blake. That was more just a comment but, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the Member’s concern. Again, if the leadership in those communities and the Member feel strongly that they would like to see us in those communities, whether we can get to all three or not, we will try our best. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

As I mentioned, hydraulic fracturing is very new to this territory. I would like to ask the Minister, is the department open to having workshops in our communities on horizontal hydraulic fracturing as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

We’ve had a number of workshops in the Sahtu, in the riding where we have seen activity. Whether we would move workshops outside of the Sahtu remains to be seen. But again, I think, given the fact that we do have this world-class opportunity in the central Mackenzie Valley, looking at opportunities to get into communities to discuss hydraulic fracturing could be very beneficial. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A number of years back there was a big concern on caribou in the Northwest Territories and the department at the time, I believe it was ENR, held a caribou summit.

I would like to ask the Minister, will the Minister hold a hydraulic fracturing summit here in the capital and invite all the communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.