Thank you. Deputy minister.
Debates of March 7th, 2023
This is page numbers 5695 - 5762 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.
Topics
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
Dr. Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the way that ENR found out was we were sent an email where the Town of Fort Smith and Indigenous governments were alerted to this. We did, as the Minister mentioned, send another email that provided more information to the Indigenous governments. We have local staff who have been working with the Indigenous governments and the town to do the additional monitoring. And most certainly if we didn't -- if we knew that the Indigenous government and the town were not aware, we would most certainly have gone and have spoken to them in greater detail but we knew that they were already aware of the spill. And the first priority was to get the monitoring equipment in as soon as possible, working with the community and the Indigenous governments to make sure that we were collecting samples as soon as possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. Are there any other Members wishing to speak to environmental management monitoring and climate change?
Seeing none, please turn to page 83. Environment and Climate Change, environmental management monitoring and climate change, operations expenditure summary, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $20,388,000. Does committee agree?
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Committee, we will continue on with Environment and Climate Change, policy and strategic planning, beginning on page 87 with information items on page 88 and 90. Questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. I want to turn to page 88, the nature fund protected areas. It's showing zero for 2023-2024. Can I get an explanation? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Thank you. So we didn't have any money in our budget but we're working with the federal government to be able to get that funding backs. Thank you.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. And I do want to compliment the Minister and his staff because I know that they're pretty good at leveraging money. But how confident are we that we're going to get any money for this? Because as I understand it, this is the funding that goes to support, you know -- I'm not even going to pronounce all the names right here, but Thaidene Nene and then a couple of other protected areas. These have gone through extensive consultation with Indigenous governments. It's a great kind of co-management approach. There's guardianship, you know, projects and things happening there, some really great stuff. This is about economic diversification, Madam Chair. So how confident are we that we're going to get money because if we don't get federal money, we're going to need to spend some money to continue to do this really good work. And I'm not opposed to that but if we can have the feds do it, that would be helpful. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
I'll start, and then I'll turn to the deputy minister. How confident I am about the money from the federal government? I would say 99.99 percent that we're going to get it. But for that detail, maybe I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Dr. Kelly
Madam Chair, we have a letter of agreement with ECCC for bridge funding for two years with the possibility for extending another year. But our hope is that in the interim we'll be able to agree to Project Finance for Permanence, or PFP, which we're working on with Indigenous governments at this time that would provide a mechanism for long-term funding for protected areas and conservation areas in the NWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks. 99.99, that's pretty good so I'll take it. Yeah, I'll just try to continue the roll here.
So the contributions for supporting sustainable land use management are declining from 142 to 90. Can I get an explanation, please.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th, 2023
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Dr. Kelly
This is due to a sunset of the funding for the approach to unauthorized and right-spaced occupancy initiative. And we're able to do this work at the level that it's at right now in-house. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 8th
Page 5722
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. On the same page, sustainable livelihoods; we seem to be on a downward slide there. Can I get an explanation, please?