Bob Bromley

Mr. Speaker, thanks again to the Minister. Some jurisdictions have banned fracking. That isn’t something they do lightly, so we need to understand the serious concerns that led to this.

As I mentioned, our so-called EDI fracking tour didn’t include a visit to even one fracking site. As part of this information gathering, will the ENR Minister work with the Industry Minister to ensure the promised southern tour of regional leaders includes a visit to a no-fracking jurisdiction and to meet with the Aboriginal leadership with extensive fracking experience in northeastern BC? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. We are in the earliest stages of learning about fracking. The policy development needs are huge and the time frame urgent. We know the drive for fracking is underway in the Sahtu. Funds and time are needed to determine the basis on which to make good management decisions.

Recognizing that the resource will not disappear, will the Minister of ENR commit to ensuring that we dedicate both the funds and the time required to develop a policy on fracking that will protect both our people and our land...

I appreciate the Minister giving some serious consideration to this and looking for opportunities in his role as Minister.

Can we expect a rigorous analysis on how to increase the benefits for the public and thereby buy some real credibility for the Mineral Development Strategy that would incorporate some of the things we’ve been discussing here?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to start with the Bathurst herd of caribou. As we all know, they have essentially been closed for just about three years. With the residential harvest being well below a few hundred for several years before that, I know many harvesters that quit hunting three or four years before the closure, as did I. Yet there’s been essentially no recovery and certainly not in the reproductive potential of this herd where there’s been no change in the number of females. I’m wondering if the Minister knows why and what additional measures are being taken this year to address this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee defer further consideration of the department summary for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ main estimates, 2013-2014, on page 13-7 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks for the comments and commitments from the Minister there. Obviously there are some real linkages with Municipal and Community Affairs here. The savings in landfill costs is in the $100,000 range. Organics, I believe, are often in the order of 25 or greater percent of the waste stream. Here is another opportunity for cooperation: the possible examination of helping communities set up organics drop-off points at the landfills.

Will the Minister commit to gathering the information I’ve requested from his staff and then consulting with the MACA Minister on possible opportunities and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really just have one general comment for this sort of activity. It is about six or eight pages long. I did a little survey and found that the majority of projects we’ve listed with the federal government are ending or dropping significantly in funding. There are zero new programs planned. Seven of them are being maintained. There are about 16 or 18 of these. One is actually increasing in funding, but zero new programs and it just seems like, looking at the numbers, we typically do add programs. I’m wondering, will we be entering into new agreements later in the fiscal...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions for the Minister of ITI. In my statement I talked about the recognition success that Yellowknife has achieved on composting in partnership with Ecology North. While a project such as the Yellowknife central composting facility may be beyond the scale of our smaller communities, there are valuable lessons to be learned here. One Ecology North staff active in this project is from Hay River. Ecology North has been a prime mover in the local community garden effort. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can tell...

Thanks for those comments from the Minister. On the environmental assessment monitoring side where we do screenings and then the higher level environmental assessments and environmental impact reviews, these are real opportunities to put conditions on projects. What sort of conditions are we pursuing in the order of greenhouse gas emissions to work towards the obvious need to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions in the Northwest Territories?

Just generally looking at this division, what proportion of our budget is going to land use plans, water and environmental assessment?