Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Debates of March 9th, 2021
This is page numbers 2383 - 2438 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 work.
Topics
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Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I will come back during the environment fund then and ask about the waste management strategy. With that in mind, I'm going to flip to contaminated sites. There is currently $339,000 allocated to contaminated sites. My concern with that is that is millions of dollars sitting within the federal government for remediating contaminated sites. Is this the area where the GNWT would be working to access those millions of dollars to be able to remediate the sites and get Northerners to work? Thank you.
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Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. The money that is here is for the positions that the department has and the small amount of O and M. There is an environmental liabilities fund for both Giant and, as well, for the whole of government that funds the actual remediation of contaminated sites that finances holds that we work with them on. Right now, our work on contaminated sites is we have an approach to contaminated sites management, and we're developing the policies and procedures under it. We've just finished a jurisdictional scan and are working with multiple departments to determine how we're going to address any gaps or information that we've received through that jurisdictional scan. Our plan is to share it with committee once it has been complete. Our hope is to be able to do that in the near term. With respect to the federal government, my understanding is that Industry, Tourism and Investment has written to the federal government, and we were part of reviewing that response. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. This relates back to the conversation that was had during the corporate management section, so I think I know the answer I'm going to get. Given the focus that this government would like to put onto remediation and a remediation economy, does the Minister feel that the division is adequately staffed, or is this one of those ones where, in order to really get dollars flowing from the federal government along with ITI, there is a need for additional resources to get that done? Or is this division also properly staffed? Thank you.
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Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. While there are positions that work on contaminated sites that are reflected here because it's part of the departmental budget, there are also positions that work on this at ENR right now that are funded out of the Environmental Liability Fund because of the relationship that I mentioned that we have. We feel that, right now, we have the staff that we need. We are completing the jurisdictional scan to look at what the gaps are and what policies and procedures we need to develop, and we will definitely be doing an assessment of our capacity related to that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you, Madam Chair. In regard to the accepted waste sites, the ones that we still have negotiate for devolution, is that the responsibility of this group? Who is responsible for those sites and negotiating whether they are federal or GNWT sites? Thank you.
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Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. This group is involved in the negotiations with the Department of Lands and has conducted the work on these sites up to this point, doing the ESAs, for example. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to echo some of the comments made by my other colleagues. I think there is a need for probably a larger review of who is doing that work, whether it's ITI, ENR, or Lands. I know that the Ptarmigan Mine, the Tom Mine, those federal sites up the Ingraham Trail, there are millions of dollars that the YKDFN is trying to go get out of the going forward as we speak, and the fact that we're not sure whether they're GNWT or Canada sites is a huge barrier to that. I'm saying that to all three Ministers at once who are responsible for this. Can I get an update on when we expect to see the Environmental Protection Act?
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
First, I'll just start. In regard to the six sites, we've got a negotiating mandate from the government, from Cabinet. We are now reaching out to the federal government. We're working on that, so that is good news. In regard to when we're going to get the act or the legislation in place, with your permission, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
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Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. Amendments to the Waters Act and the Environmental Protection Act are dependent on completion of the GNWT's review of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. Once that is complete, we are ready to go on those amendments. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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