Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The world, including we in the NWT, has come to a fork in the road. We must all choose. The choice will affect what kind of world we live in and leave for our children and grandchildren. We can choose to ignore the science telling us that continued fossil fuel extraction beyond 20 percent of known conventional reserves must stay in the ground. We can ignore the respected voices telling us that economies based on fossil fuels are not sustainable morally, financially or ecologically from Pope Francis to Mark Carney to the Rockefellers. We can ignore the mounting evidence...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member raising this question. It certainly has been a point of valid discussion, and discuss it we did. The Member is right. He can and, in fact, has spoken to this at length and I appreciate him bringing that forward, and all Members have had much opportunity to comment on it. Basically, a Member’s ability to name rules will develop over time and certainly will likely be weak at the beginning and very strong at the end of their experience in the House. Of course, there’s individual variation, the ability to quickly name a rule or do the research for it...

WHEREAS the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and all of its standing and special committees are conducted in accordance with the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the current Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories were originally adopted on April 1, 1993, and amended numerous times over the years;

AND WHEREAS a comprehensive review of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories was undertaken in order to modernize the rules, to acknowledge changes related to technology, to...

I appreciate the Minister’s comments there. I know the Minister is well aware that this is the biggest used recreational area in the Northwest Territories, tens of millions of dollars every year poured into the recreation in that area.

Can the Minister confirm that northern tools will provide for the permanent legislated protection of the surface and subsurface of NWT parks, meeting international and national standards for protected areas? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for Minister Miltenberger, ENR, and I’d like to speak about the northern tools. The Minister has stated that the NWT Wildlife Act, the Territorial Parks Act and the Lands Act could be used to protect special areas of the NWT as northern tools, including Thaidene Nene. More specifically, the Minister has stated that Thaidene Nene will likely be protected through a combination of national park legislation and northern tools. This was in Hansard on February 19th. On public lands in the NWT, it’s important that all members of the public are...

I appreciate the Minister’s comments. Unfortunately, he didn’t mention where most of our dollars are going and that’s plan A, which is the pursuit of fossil fuels, a very, very risky investment, getting riskier every day. The International Monetary Fund found that between directly lowered prices, tax breaks and uncompensated environmental damage, fossil fuel subsidies worldwide were over $1.9 trillion in 2011 or 8 percent of global government revenues, a huge drag on economy. The IMF’s solution to both economic and climate risk is simple: End fossil fuel subsidies and tax carbon. They add the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the movers for bringing this forward and the remarks from the Minister and the support for the general concept. The issue of resources certainly comes up on both sides of the House whenever we are talking about these things. That is why I think the Minister will note in the “therefore” that we said “work with Aboriginal governments” that we know now are being resourced through our net fiscal benefit and other means, that they now have the opportunity to participate in the issue the Minister raised.

I just wanted to mention that that wasn’t omitted...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Devolution legislation has not been reviewed at all by people as being referred to as having northern tools and things like that. We’ve heard “devolve” and “evolve.” Perhaps we should have “revolve.”

There seems to be a few legislative gaps in our Lands legislation that needs filling. Despite promises from our Premier, serious review will only occur when departments take it on. A new department in a supposedly democratic government guided by legislation with absolutely no vetting from the citizenry, that’s the Department of Lands.

When will the Minister begin the...

Sorry for the confusion there. I should have stipulated Minister McLeod. I have been working with Minister McLeod on this and still some questions remain, but I understand that in fact we don’t have regulations, but I’ll wait for that to be confirmed.

People are being injured on Prelude Lake travelling to their cabins and homes by snowmobile because of the six-foot concrete-hard berms associated with roads that have appeared overnight and are basically chaotically placed on the lake.

I’m wondering what this Minister proposes to do before this issue arises again next winter as a land use issue...

Mr. Speaker, constituents living at Prelude Lake report extensive and chaotic proliferation of unauthorized ice roads plowed on Prelude this winter. In the words of one, “Anybody with a plow has put in a road to their cabin and from cabin to cabin, criss-crossing the lake.” People travelling the lake by snowmobile, as they have safely done for decades, are being injured. Safety, environmental and transportation issues need regulation.

Foremost is safety. Traditionally residents have travelled to and from their cabins by snowmobile, but now it is almost impossible to cross the lake by snow...