This is page numbers 5299 - 5332 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd 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 women. View the webstream of the day's session.

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Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Actually, I don't think that we have offloaded that onto the communities. I think that the communities have taken the responsibility for that on, because who knows the communities more than the community, Mr. Speaker? It is not another pot of money that we have. The small community employment fund had, I believe, about $4.2 million, of which $3 million went to a lot of the smaller communities. Through the process that we are going through right now, we have added more money onto that because it has been such an important tool for a lot of the small communities. They have that opportunity to access that funding, and the communities make the decisions as to what is best for their communities, and they have the funds available to bring some of these projects to life.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

It is good that the communities took on this responsibility, but we are talking in the neighbourhood of $200,000, for example, to do a community the size of Fort McPherson. That is competing with capital projects. What is ENR's estimate of the cost to cut firebreaks around the three communities in the Mackenzie Delta?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

The exact cost, I am not sure, but a $200,000 investment, you would think, would save significant dollars if there is damage to the community as a result of the fire. I know that we are in negotiations with Canada on the disaster mitigation funding. That would be another pot of money that communities would be able to access to help with disaster mitigation. We feel that there is significant investment in this particular area, again, so we leave the authority to make these types of decisions up to the communities. You will find that communities do make good decisions. Where there are opportunities, as I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, with some of our crews that, thankfully, have had a quiet fire season, they are able to assist on this, as well.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Frederick Blake Jr.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seeing as how the Minister is also the money man in the House, fire smarting can save lives and very valuable property, and the cost of doing it is a lot less than many projects that our government routinely delivers. Will the Minister identify funds that communities can use to implement their Wildland Fire Protection Plans by cost-sharing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I am the Environment Minister, so I will speak with the Finance Minister and see if there are opportunities to access more money, but again, through a number of the programs that we have, such as disaster mitigation, there are funds that we will be able to access to assist with the communities. The communities, again, have those funds at their disposal if they choose to use them to do some fire smarting, with the folks that we have, because of the quiet fire season, assisting them. There are a number of opportunities there with the small community employment fund. I believe, in one community, they did a lot of fire smarting, and they did a lot of cutting of dead brush around their community. That's a good thing. More than anything, we recognize the importance of saving lives, and I think that the communities do as well. If we can, we will work in cooperation with the communities to try to assist them wherever we can to fire smart their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Finance Minister that I am just going to spring on him. I didn't give him any heads-up. There have been a lot of announcements about funding to examine some of these big projects that the territory is looking at, whether it's the Slave Geological Province road or it's Taltson Hydro. There is a lot of federal money, but we are also putting our money into it as well. When these announcements are made, is there any sort of commitment on the part of the feds that, in addition to giving us the exploratory money, they are going to be paying for major parts of these potential projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are always prepared when there are opportunities for funding from the federal government. One of the things that I have told this House in the last three years is that a lot of the potential savings that we had so that we can match federal money as federal government money becomes available. A lot of the work that the Member is talking about is building a case for these potential projects. Normally, there is the exploratory building a case to try and access the bigger pots of money. When the bigger pots of money are accessed, then I feel that this government is in a fairly good position to do our cost-share of the project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I appreciate that answer. I know that, you know, the feds aren't going to come out right and say that they can commit right at the beginning here, but I am a little bit concerned because, as we are going through this budget here, our last budget, I see what the debt limit is. I see where we are at, and we are pretty much maxed out. It was about a month ago in the south the Minister said he had initiated some talks with the federal Finance Minister about increasing our borrowing limit and about possibly talking about territorial formula financing, and I know that the Minister hasn't had any time in the past six weeks because we have been here, so I know he hasn't met with the federal Finance Minister, but have we set a date for these talks to begin so we can really get into the meat of the issue?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I have, as I said, initiated talks with them. We have not been able to sit down yet. We have been in session for awhile, now, but our next Finance Ministers' meeting, I believe, is in June. There might be opportunities for me to have a conversation with the federal Finance Minister beforehand and see if we can work on -- we are fortunate right now that, with the borrowing limit that we do have, most of our project, we are able to fit under there, but if there are announcements for bigger projects that might need more of an investment from the Government of the Northwest Territories, then we need to work with Ottawa to increase our borrowing limit. As we stand right now, I think we are in fairly good shape with the projects that we do have.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

I am looking forward to the next Assembly and the Assemblies after that because these are big projects. They are long-term projects. They are not even going to get started in the life of this Assembly and the piggy bank is almost empty, so can we get assurance from the Minister that he is going to have those talks with the Finance Minister in the life of this Assembly so that, going into the next Assembly, we might have the money to complete some of these projects? Because we are spending territorial funds in addition to the federal funds, exploring this project, but if they are never going to get off the ground, we are just wasting our money. So can we get a commitment that those talks will happen and we should see some results this Assembly?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

I said I was going to have discussions with the federal government. I was going to have the meetings with the federal minister. I'm a man of my word, and I will initiate those discussions. I think, with the work that we have done in the last three years in the Assembly with some of the corrections we have made on the budget, I think we positioned ourselves very well to be able to match it. I take the Member's point, and as I've said a number of times, a lot of the work that we do here has set the table for those coming after us, so they will be in the position, if there are bigger announcements to be made, they will be in a good position to take advantage of that with our matching dollars. If there are discussions, and I will, and I have said I will, I will initiate those discussions, have those discussions with the federal Finance Minister before the end of this Assembly.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have set the table, then we ate all the food. There is going to be nothing left for the next Assembly. So just so we know what is going on, would the Minister be able to provide us with a list of projections, cost projections, for these future projects over the next five or 10 years, just so we have an idea so that, you know, when people are considering entering politics next year, they know what they are in for? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Most departments have 20-year infrastructure acquisition plans, and as money becomes available, they are able to put those plans in to do the actual building. You know, there are Members who are coming after us and I think we are going to position them to come and realize that there are some decisions that were made in this Assembly, I think, that made their work a little easier, and we hope it is a little easier, and if they are in a good position to match a lot of the federal projects, I don't know what is coming on. I mean, we have had some of the projects that we have been working on or we have been proposing, we have been working with Ottawa, and the departments have 20-year infrastructure needs assessment to have plans, so I think the next government, the 19th Assembly, is going to be well-positioned to take advantage of any federal dollars that become available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. Last week, I made a Member's statement about the great post-devolution resource giveaway, where the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment issued 10 significant discovery licences that tie up petroleum resources forever without any benefits to NWT residents. The original exploration rights were issued by the federal government. Can the Minister tell us whether the federal government made any provision for fees or work requirements in the issuance of those original rights? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Question 669-18(3): Significant Discovery Licences
Oral Questions

March 8th, 2019

Page 5304

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government has never charged rental rates on significant discovery licences, provided there was a significant discovery declaration in place when the STL was issued. Among the terms and conditions tied to exploration licences, a 25 percent work bid deposit was paid and drilling activity was required in order to maintain the licence for a full term. Interest holders are also required to pay rentals in the second period of an exploration licence as part of a condition to hold an exploration licence for nine years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Well, it is my understanding that, when the federal government issued those original rights, they made provision for fees to be charged as a rental rate. Perhaps the rental rate wasn't specified, but at least it was in there, so why did the Minister not include any fees or work requirements in the 10 significant discovery licences that he issued?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

These interests were tied to exploration licences issued by the federal government prior to devolution. It has been the policy of our government to hold companies doing business here to the terms they negotiated with the federal government. Future STL rental rates were not stated in the terms and conditions of the original call for bids documents issued by Canada prior to devolution. The GNWT would have been in a high-risk litigation.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I thank the Minister for that explanation. It was a fear of risk of litigation, so that we now don't get any benefits from these significant discovery licences. The Minister last week said that we should not, "set rules without a transparent and open process." The Minister also said that he will consider charging rental rates under the terms and conditions for future bids in the Northwest Territories when we put out plans for petroleum exploration in the future. Can the Minister tell us who is consulted in setting those rates and what they will be?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

The topic of rentals and other STL policy elements, such as terms, have been discussed with all current interest holders in the Northwest Territories and representatives of the intergovernmental council during the development and amendments of the Petroleum Resource Act and Oil and Gas Act.