Thank you, Mr. Chair. And Mr. Chair, does the department anticipate that that maybe needs to change or evolve, or do they see that as working going forward? I guess sometimes I get a little bit concerned that there's a lot of -- whereas that we do want to breakdown the silos but there's a lot of times where, like, I hear, like, that ADMs or the deputy ministers are having all these committees and then it makes me wonder if they're just having a lot of committee meetings and, you know, like maybe they're being overwhelmed in that and maybe the right people aren't. So I guess I'm just curious to know if there's -- if there's a way that we could move this forward efficiently so we're not looking back later on trying to change it like we are so many other departments of the GNWT. Thank you.
Debates of Feb. 23rd, 2022
This is page numbers 3441 - 3480 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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Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think our department has quite a lot of experience working on files that are cross-departmental, and so we're not just sitting -- like, it's not just at the ADM level; it's at the working level all the way through. So there is that ability for consistency and things to go up and come down within those groups, which is really great. I mean, I don't think you can find a file that is more -- where there's more of a requirement for departments to work together than climate change. If affects all of the departments, and there needs to be that working together. And I think that we're doing that effectively at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So I just want to start by saying that although I ask a lot of tough questions of this department, I do appreciate the work that the staff do, and I know that they're always doing their best.
But I do have some questions around climate change and the conservation area planning and management over a longer period of time. The Nature Fund protected areas grants and contributions is going down, down on page 81. It's about, I don't know, almost $300,000 less this year than last year. When I look at conservation planning and implementation program detail on page 80, it's about $1.5 million less than what was spent last year. I guess -- so where are we going to find the money to maintain the long-term investment that's needed to fund these protected areas? And I support them, and they will create sustainable long-term jobs that have lots of other benefits, but where's the money going to come from? Because we're not spending it, and this is not a good trend in this budget. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Thank you. I'll start, and then turn to the deputy minister.
ENR has been exploring potential opportunities to find territorial -- or to fund territorial protected areas over the long term and at the same time support economic diversification in the NWT. One option is the project finance for permits or PFP. PFPs are a relatively new financial tools that bring together diverse partners, including governments, donors, into a single group with a common purpose. Currently, ENR is representing the GNWT in discussions on the feasibility of PFP for the NWT. But for further detail, I will turn to the deputy minister because we have started the conversations and that, but I'll turn to the deputy minister for further information. Thank you.
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The Chair Ronald Bonnetrouge
Mahsi. And if somebody could clarify what was "PFP" also at the same time. Deputy minister.
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Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Nature Fund fluctuates based on the activities that were planned so that what you see in here is the amount of money that we said we would need for the years that we had it. And the reason that the costs -- or the funding decreased over time is we were shifting from negotiations, which are expensive because you need to meet and have those meetings, to some of the management and operations pieces, right. So that is part of this change.
With respect to long-term funding, we're alive to that issue and have been working and talking to funders and also to the federal government for many years, but the project financing for permanence option, PFP, is a recent thing that's come up that we're looking at with other departments in the GNWT to see if it could be something that could work for all of us. And we're working with Indigenous governments and others, the funders themselves on that to see if it could work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, no, thanks for that. I guess -- I know I said this before, I understand a lot of work that has to go into the negotiation of setting these protected areas up, but that's when the real work actually begins. You have to create management plans. You know, you have to -- there should be money for guardianship programs, investing in tourism and infrastructure in the protected areas themselves. I actually disagree with what the deputy minister said in that I think you need even more money when it comes to actually implementing these and doing it in a consistent and supportive way. So that's what I'm most worried about, is where's the money going to come from to do that? And it does require a sustained investment from our government. So I'm just going to leave it at that on this topic, Mr. Chair, but I want to turn now to climate -- the climate crisis.
And I'm looking at a document -- this is from a different department, but it was part of this consolidated climate change reporting from GNWT. You know, this government -- and ENR has the lead, apparently, on the climate change, climate crisis. And so this is a document from the Department of Infrastructure that actually calculates what the greenhouse gas emission reductions have been and predicts what they're going to be by 2025. So that's seven years into the agreement that we signed onto, the Pan-Canadian Framework, to reduce our emissions by a certain amount. We will -- by 2025, we will have only reached 20 percent of the target and that leaves, you know, another five years to do the 80 percent. Like I said at the time, this was a -- not a good strategy. We back end loaded it. And my predictions are coming completely true. We're going to fail to meet that target unless we change course now.
So I want to ask the Minister, as the lead on the climate crisis, what are we going to do to change to trajectory of this government, this Northwest Territories, to actually meet the Pan-Canadian Framework target? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Thank you. So as the Member has said, this is very much infrastructure, and that's part of it. As the lead, we work with the departments. But for detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister to explain how we are working collaboratively together on this very topic. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the GNWT working together is aware of, in particular, the timelines associated with Taltson and whether it'll be on -- be able to be in effect before the target -- that target timeframe. And because of that, we're working with other departments, including Infrastructure, for mitigation pathways for the next Energy Action Plan. They're the lead on the Energy Action Plan, but ENR is part of those discussions as well as some of the other departments. So there is work being done to look at other ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So can we get any details on what the plan B is? Is that something that the Minister can share with Standing Committee and maybe even the public? Because plan A from the last Assembly's not going do it. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
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Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Yeah, that there, I would ask the Member to ask questions on that with the Infrastructure Minister, what plan B is, because I don't have what plan B is in front of me. But maybe the deputy minister may have further clarity on how we move forward on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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Kelly
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't want to speak for another department but my understanding is that Infrastructure will do engagement on their next plan. That would be part of the work and that there needs to be -- they're working on their next energy strategy action plan, and they would engage on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.