This is page numbers 5517 - 5566 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 know.

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Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. The review of mining royalties continues to grind along. Industry, Tourism and Investment released a discussion paper in February 2022. Public engagement closed at the end of July 2022, more than six months ago. A so-called "what we heard" report was finally released quietly during the Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver in late January.

The report attempts to summarize 13 submissions that appear to have been sent, 11 online and two written submissions. Those written submissions are actually appended and consist of a detailed 12-page letter from Alternatives North and a two-page letter from the Chamber of Mines criticizing Alternatives North. No details are provided on any of the other submissions.

Three types of engagement seem to have been undertaken.

  • Submissions could be sent by email.
  • Requests could be made of ITI for meetings, and ITI initiated some "targeted engagement" which appears to have been 25 secret meetings with the mining industry.
  • There were also 21 different surveys open only to those holding prospecting licenses. No data from these surveys is compiled or presented in the "what we heard" report. It's not clear why these surveys were only open to those holding prospecting licenses.

Ironically, the first item in the report on the targeted engagement, those secret meetings with the mining industry, is called "transparency and confidentiality." Public trust and the need for a lot more public disclosure are mentioned. Again, rather ironic that this was discussed at meetings that ITI held secretly with the mining industry.

I tabled the presentations from those secret meetings I obtained under access to information last week. Then there is a classic statement that "the public release of total royalties and production information is not seen as an issue going forward." What? All we're going to get out of this royalty review is the public reporting of separate resource revenues for mining and petroleum?

Quebec already has a mine-by-mine public disclosure of royalties paid. Many countries already release this kind of data as part of their public reporting and all we can do is separate mining and petroleum royalties? Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Merci, Monsier le President. To be fair, the document only says that the views gathered will be thrown into a hopper and combined with some financial modeling and other research and analysis to form policy options for future regulations.

The Yukon government recently started its review of mining legislation being done collaboratively with Yukon First Nations. There is a discussion paper with policy options that I tabled in the House. Public meetings open to everyone, Mr. Speaker - We could learn a lot from their better engagement process.
I will have questions later today for the Minister of mining on the status of the royalty regime review and when the public will be engaged again. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today it saddens me to stand in this House and speak about the passing of a well-known man from the community of Fort Simpson.

John Moreau was a hard worker, told it like it was, and was an honest businessman. I watched him work and his commitment to his work was excellent. Nothing was too small or too big for him to take on.
John was born and raised in Winnipeg, a '50s greaser that use to race T-birds down the Pembina Highway. John was always a very independent man who raised his children with his wife Louisa, who were married for 54 years.

John was an avid traveler who went from New York, Vegas, Nova Scotia, to Alaska and heard about the Yellowknife gold mines in Edmonton. In true John fashion, he hopped on a plane to Vancouver, got his explosive technician training, and headed to Yellowknife to work and this is where he met the love of his life Louisa Tsetso.

John and Louisa decided to go back to Fort Simpson for a two-week visit and, as the stories go, they never left. John had many business ventures in Fort Simpson since the '60s with line lopping, gas stations, arcade, and various construction businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you there wasn't a house, roof, door, and fence he hadn't touched or looked at in Fort Simpson. John was a self-taught carpenter.

Mr. Speaker, John was a good listener, advocate for fairness, amazing family supporter, avid golfer, and dart player. I had the pleasure of golfing with him and his wife a few times throughout the golf seasons. I can tell you, like everything else in his life, he was willing to share and tell stories that engaged you.

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to visit him about two weeks before he passed away. I can tell you he spoke a lot about his children and how proud he was of them. He loved the fact that they were all independent, hardworking, and had strong family values. He talked about his son taking over the business and him being able to work with both his sons. He spoke about his daughters being successful in their adventures in life, whether it was competing at a national dart tournament to operating a successful business or making life choices. He spoke about how proud he was of his grandchildren and the things that they were doing and accomplishing. As he said to me, his children and grandchildren were Louisa's and his legacies.

Mr. Speaker, when it came to his wife, he was very proud of her. He spoke about how she was willing to share her traditional knowledge with their children and others in the community. When it came to getting help to look after moosehide, from the very beginning to the end of the project Louisa was the person to contact.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that he will be sadly missed by his friends and family. He will always be in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nahendeh. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and community at this time.

Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

March 1st, 2023

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The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Colleagues, I am pleased to recognize a group of legislative interns visiting us from Ontario. They are here this week to learn more about our consensus form of government. With us today is Alia Mufti, Esma Boztas, Karissa Singh, Leah Wilson, Lucas Fisher, Sharon Lee, Sky Shi, Sophie Williams, Teah U-Ming, and Administrative team member Michael Vidoni.

Please join me in welcoming them to our proceedings. And I hope you enjoy your week here at our beautiful legislature. Thank you.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Honourable Premier.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Page 5520

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Range Lake constituent Ms. Samantha Stuart. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery
Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Page 5520

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I was going off of power limiters and, you know, state of housing in my riding in Nunakput. Today, Mr. Speaker, it's minus 39 in Sachs Harbour, 30 in Paulatuk, minus 42 in Ulukhaktok, and minus 41 in Tuktoyaktuk.

Mr. Speaker, what work is the NTPC undertaking to address issues of power limiters, especially to the residents in the High Arctic; what has the Minister done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation puts limiters on houses and anybody that has overdue accounts. So if you have an outstanding account that's 28 days after the billing, then the corporation may give notice of disconnection of service in writing to the customer. Where accounts are not paid before the expiration of such notice, then, you know, we work with the customer and perhaps have to install a limiting device. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what has the Minister accomplished in the life of the Assembly to bring down of the cost of the power in Nunakput riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just for context here, in December of 2022 we had 3,423 resident customers' accounts that are in arrears. We had 387 commercial customers that are in arrears. Mr. Speaker, we are working with the customers to be able to work and try and get their bills paid so that we don't have to put these limiters on. Thank you.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister thinking of getting rid of all those bills on behalf of the whole territory then we could start over?

Mr. Speaker, you know what? Many residents are on income support in our territory. It's hard for them to pay their bills. Can the Minister commit to work with ECE to ensure that the clients can pay their power bills in the winter without having to give up the income support for food and other essential supplies; can she work with that with the Minister? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we already do work with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and we also work with our income support program to be able to help the residents to work together and get their payments. So, yes, we do work together and perhaps we will continue to work together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, our units in our small communities, the appliances are old and they suck the power and the power bills go up, Mr. Speaker. In that turn, the residents struggle to pay for that.

Has the Minister done any work with the Minister responsible for housing to get energy efficient appliances in the public units across the territory, especially in Nunakput riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the department works with NWT Housing. And, you know, we work with our partners like Arctic Energy Alliance. Mr. Speaker, there are some great programs out there that help support some of the housing that, you know, needs some work in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, my questions are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corp.

I'd like to ask the Minister how the work of NTPC is considering the operating realities in my region? We continue to focus on the Taltson Hydro Expansion but in the Beaufort Delta what are we doing to build energy security and lower cost of power? And please, Mr. Speaker, I don't want to hear about the wind project and I don't want to hear about how it's saving us 3 to $4 million in offsets to the diesel costs, you know, because we already know that project is double in costs and is far from complete and we're going to be making it up for years. So what other strategic plans are in place? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Member doesn't want me to bring up the wind project, so I won't. Other than, you know, we are on target. It's, you know, a great project when it gets completed. But talking about in our region actually, Mr. Speaker, I'm the Member for Inuvik as well. So I mean, working together, we are working with the Indigenous groups trying to look at strategic ways. The Inuvialuits got the line perhaps coming in for the natural gas. That's one strategic work that we could do together. The Nihtat Band has some great opportunities for other sources of renewable energy. So we are working together in the region. Perhaps we don't have access to a hydro system that is elsewhere in the territories. But I just want the Member to know that we are having discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with our governance board in place right now, I'm just wondering, like, I hear the Minister with the answers that we got but what other -- like, what I'm asking is what is -- in the Beaufort Delta, we are the highest cost of power. We use the most diesel up there to run. We don't have trees in half the region of the Beaufort Delta. Our barges don't make it in because of, you know, weather and different things so we can't get supplies up there so then we're flying stuff in. All this stuff is going to get passed down. But we have a board that's supposed to be making these strategic decisions. So what strategic decisions has this board made for my region that's going to make a big difference? Thank you.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, yes, we do have a board of directors, and I'm sure I'll have further questions based on all the Member's statements that was said today, so, I mean, I'm quite prepared to speak on that. In terms of dealing directly with the Member in the riding that, you know, we can further discussions and just to see if perhaps there are recommendations that the Member may have and have that discussion to see how we can collaborate and get some projects going. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Lesa Semmler

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd go on about net metering and I'd go on about the board, but I know my colleagues are going to ask those questions so I'm just going to continue down this path.

So has this Minister secured increased funding, or is there even talks of increased funding, to cover these overruns that the wind project is going to cost because we've already heard what they were at, about 60 to $70 million of a $40-million project. So are these costs going to passed off to residents of the Northwest Territories on their power bills? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so we will talk about the Inuvik Wind Project now. We talk about it, we don't talk about it, yes, there's costs overruns. And I want the Member to know that, you know, I've been to Ottawa several times speaking with federal ministers in terms of green energy and how we can reduce our GHG emissions here in the territories. So that is further discussions we will have. And yes, I'm sure I'll speak more about it all afternoon today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.