Bob Bromley

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 follow up on my Member’s statement with questions for the Premier. The current low price of oil gives us an opportunity to develop alternatives. Money we are saving through lower fossil fuel prices must be invested to implement environmentally, economically and socially sustainable and responsible energy solutions.

I’m wondering, as lead on energy, what extra money from our fuel savings from reduced oil prices is the Premier allocating to exploring and implementing renewable energy solutions for our people and, thus, for our planet. Mahsi.

In the words of an economist, “The solution to both climate and economy is worldwide conversion from fossil fuels to renewables.” This massive conversion program will lead to powerful economic growth, less economic drag from energy costs, higher revenue for treasuries and strong employment drivers.

So, here we are at the fork in the road, choosing between a path that continues to destroy our planet and offers only a few local boom and bust jobs in return, and a renewable energy future that holds a promise of healthy, lasting jobs and a sustainable economy. Which do we choose? Our people, our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to this, I am pleased to summarize the intent of the comprehensive rewrite of the Assembly’s rules as well as to highlight the most substantive changes that are being incorporated.

A working group consisting of senior staff from the Office of the Clerk was formed to study and make recommendations on revisions to the current rules of the Legislative Assembly. The working group considered the rules and procedures of other Legislatures with a particular focus on the approaches taken in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and New South Wales, Australia, as well as 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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also rise in support of this motion. A domestic violence death review committee is something that I know our coroner has been interested in for some time. Our chief coroner has done a lot of work to bring forward recommendations and try to learn lessons that we should have been learning when these events have occurred and brought those forward through recommendations.

I know a number of Members have been a little bit uncomfortable, perhaps, in that we haven’t necessarily followed up as much as we should have to actually address a lot of those recommendations and...

I appreciate the fast work of the Minister. The Minister recently held public meetings about recreational leasing regulations in several communities. This was a good initiative and I applaud it. Presumably, access roads on land and ice would be part and parcel of any new rules regulating what may or may not be done by people holding recreational leases.

Did the Minister hear any references or concerns from the participants in these meetings about the building of ice or land roads to their leases, or casual users of the common concerns about interference from roads? Mahsi.