This is page numbers 6419 – 6480 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

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As for the fiscal viability, I’m in no position to answer that. That would be a question that they would have to answer. I do know that they do have an application before the ENR, a water licence application for the ENR Minister and I can find out the update and status of where that’s at. Thank you.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you. I’d say it would be important for this Minister to be on top of the viability of these mines because, of course, they’re the ones responsible for their cleanup and this Minister is responsible for ensuring that the liabilities are covered.

As we all know, mines failing and leaving huge environmental liabilities and costs to taxpayers behind are nothing new.

So my question is: What is the current status of Cantung’s security deposit for environmental liability?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I know that the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, I think, had set their security at $30 million, and that was, I think, $27 million and $30 million was to be paid 90 days after the granting of the water licence. My understanding is, I think, the water licence is still in the process and I will find out as to the status of that from my counterpart over at ENR. Thank you.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Of course, we do have an entire division within the Department of Lands that is supposedly on top of liabilities.

In our fall session I was shocked to hear that the total shortfall of security deposits held by this government on behalf of mining interests was $176 million.

Can the Minister give me an update on the status of security deposits that are currently being held and what shortfalls there are now? Mahsi.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I believe I said in the fall that we had over $500 million that we are holding in security. As far as the shortfall, again, I will get that number and relay it to the Member. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’ll look forward to that. Despite NEB’s rejection of surety bonds as acceptable surety against environmental liabilities, instead requiring irrevocable letters of credit, this government allows this form of security for mining operations after devolution.

What are the government’s plans for the form of financial instruments acceptable for risky environmental liabilities in the new fracking regulations? Mahsi.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Surety bonds are an accepted form of security for many projects that are going on. Again, I think in the short time that we’ve had this responsibility we’ve done some work. The Member is correct; we do have a division that’s dedicated to this, and we will continue to do our due process and make sure that any work that does go on is adequately covered and that way we have the opportunity to do the remediation if need be. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to use my questions today to follow up on my Member’s statement, which was when I talked about the idea and certainly the issue of the establishment of an environment award.

As I said just briefly in my Member’s statement, we have great awards such as the Premier’s Awards, Education Hall of Fame Awards, Sport North, volunteer, and the list certainly goes on in many deserving areas that need to be recognized.

Not to take away but to add to this opportunity, I’m going to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, would he believe that there would be great merit, and certainly opportunity, in the establishment of its own set of awards for environment? Would he be willing to do that? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member would have the time to put his fingers to the keyboard and send me an outline and I’ll listen to the discussion and I’m interested to have further discussions about that. But for greater clarity, he could give us how clear it is on this issue in terms of key points that he’d like to see environmental awards, and we will definitely give it serious consideration. Thank you.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, he took my second question away from me and I didn’t even have a question three or four. Maybe I can just ask if the Minister is interested in this kind of concept for stand-alone environment awards, recognizing the issues I talked about, recognizing children, recognizing schools, community heroes, community groups and even government employees who provide stewardship of public policy. I just want to be very clear.

Is the Minister supportive of the concept? I heard him say he’ll take a look at it, but is he individually supportive of the concept? Because it’s important to know he leads the department. Thank you.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

The role of the environment and the importance of the environment to this Legislature, to the government and the people of the Northwest Territories is second to none in terms of priorities. So, yes, when it comes to doing the right thing with environment, including recognizing those folks who have spent their life doing good work as it pertains to the environment, we are interested. I am interested. If the Member will send me that information, I will give it my serious consideration and will put it on my ongoing list I have for discussion with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Moses.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the Minister of Transportation tabled in this House the 2015-2040 Transportation Strategy, which also includes four-year action plans along the way.

Going through the priorities, and we’re also looking at maximizing opportunities and creating new infrastructure, can I ask the Minister, in terms of priorities, where does the aging and underdeveloped system that we have throughout the Northwest Territories right now sit on that priority? Is it the number one priority that we have within this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Strengthening our connections is one of the objectives of the Transportation Strategy for the next 25 years. We would be paying equal attention to all three strategies. That is one of the strategies, is to improve the current infrastructure that we have. In fact, we have been working with the federal government and improving our current infrastructure for the past seven years with the Building Canada Fund and our funding, and we’re hoping to continue that work for the next 10 years as we get the bundles in the current Building Canada Fund approved. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

The Minister alluded to the Building Canada Plan and the fund that he’s looking at in terms of building some of these new infrastructures but also putting money towards our existing infrastructure.

Can I ask the Minister for an update on where this government is in negotiations about the Building Canada Fund that’s going to improve our highway systems and also start building on these new infrastructure projects? Can I get an update on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

As Members know, it’s a $292 million proposal that we’ve submitted from Transportation to the Building Canada Fund. Right now we had separated them into three bundles of a little over $95 million. The first bundle received the approval through the Treasury Board. That’s one of the steps that it goes through: Infrastructure Canada to the Treasury Board and then back to us. The first bundle received approval today from the Treasury Board. Thank you.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

I was hoping for more of a timeline when we can expect answers. I know there are a lot of companies out there that are really eager to get started on some of this work. With the time frame that we have in the Northwest Territories because of the extreme weather conditions, I think people like to get ready for that type of work…(inaudible)…time.

One of the sections in the strategy discusses incomplete highway infrastructure to maximize opportunities. One of the priorities in the 17th Legislative Assembly was the Mackenzie Valley Highway up the valley from Wrigley to the Dempster. In our discussions with the Mining Association of Canada during NWT Days, they said it was very important to have that infrastructure in place to move resources out of the territory, which we get a little bit of possible royalties off of that.

Can I ask the Minister, in terms of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, how long are we in terms of getting that project up and started up through the valley? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

As far as the timelines for the Building Canada Fund, we have pre-tendered a lot of the work and we’re waiting for approval so we can award the tenders to the various companies.

As far as the Mackenzie Valley Highway goes, we have submitted all of the information that the federal government has requested. The last one was a business case that was a little over 300 pages long. That is currently with the federal government. The federal government is looking at that proposal under the National Infrastructure Fund, which is a $4 billion fund that is to be spread across the country.

Also, we’re looking at maybe how we could phase the proposal. But at this time we have the $700 million proposal in with the federal government. Their request for information has been provided and we’re waiting for them to approve. We’re anticipating, if approval is received, it would take about seven years of construction to build the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I attended a strategy meeting up in the Beaufort-Delta and it was a really good presentation; however, what it lacked was what other big projects are going throughout the Northwest Territories. It just focused on the Inuvik region, specifically the Inuvik Tuk Highway, and that’s great.

On page 55 of this new strategy, there’s a big blue arrow up there on the map. It’s the all-weather road to the Slave Geological Corridor. Things like that could have been presented to the community of Inuvik, Sahtu, the Deh Cho.

Knowing that this is going to become a priority of government but was not a big priority of the 17th Legislative Assembly when we sat down when we began this whole process of looking at what our priorities were, can I ask the Minister, at what point did the all-weather road into the Slave Geological Corridor become a priority of this government, or will it be in the transition document for the 18th or the 19th Assemblies? Can I ask the Minister if that’s something that this government is going to invest in before the end of this term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The road into the Slave Geological Province has been contemplated and has been a priority of government for over 20 years. We must recognize that with new devolution, a lot of our resource revenues are coming from the diamond industry. What we need to do is we’re trying to find a quicker or more efficient way for them to get their freight and fuel into the Slave Geological. We are contemplating building some of the current winter road into an all-season road to make it more feasible for the diamond mines to extend their life and to continue to provide resource revenues to this government and to the federal government.

It hasn’t been something where we said, “We’re going to look at that and we’re not going to look at another major project.” We have put in for the Mackenzie Valley under one proposal. We’re talking with industry. We’re talking with Nunavut about extending the road into the Slave Geological. So there are a few of the projects at play here, including the road into the Tlicho region. Thank you.