Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for the Premier today. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement. Clearly, the statistics describe the vast disparity in household incomes between our richest and poorest citizens. I would appreciate a general reaction on this from the Premier. It’s obvious that these are trustworthy numbers and the trend is not a good one. Does the Premier agree that we can’t really claim to have a just and equitable society when some people have so much and increasing numbers of other people struggle to survive on so little? Thank you.

Twenty-six of the NWT’s foremost advocacy groups – the Dene Nation has just signed on – and four municipalities have insisted we sit down with businesses, communities, organizations and those living in poverty, to create a strategic multi-faceted approach to help our citizens out of poverty.

I will be asking the Premier questions on his plans for carrying these commitments forward. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table the following document, entitled “Average Household Income by Lowest and Highest Income Group, Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2009.” Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, just briefly, I would be interested to learn what possibilities there are for support from the federal government to deal with these issues based on the Minister’s visit. Thank you.

I appreciate that all those discussions are being had and are ongoing but, obviously, the need is only growing, so we really want on-the-ground actions. I guess my next question will be when can we see recommendations coming forward that we can actually get going on the ground. Thank you.

I appreciate the comments from the Minister and his deputy minister here. I guess I would like to take the Minister up on that offer and ask if he will commit to bringing this subject to committee with their best efforts. I will urge committee to do our best efforts to come up with ways. There are a number of ways that come to mind immediately. Ultimately, of course, we could purchase offsets so that there is no net increase, but I think we could do a little better.

The Minister mentioned balancing and so on. That is what I am talking about here. If we just allow this to continue to increase, I...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ll speak briefly to a number of issues. The first one I want to mention is, as the Minister well knows, I don’t see the Detah road on here and my constituents have a high degree of interest in doing something on that front. They’re in mid-project right now doing some great work, and it has provided real benefits to the community with employment, and keeping people at home and developing the Deton’Cho Corporation and their capacity. So there’s quite a number of features. It’s a partnership with the Mine Training Society and so on. I know the Minister is supportive of...

Thank you. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. I want to note that Paramount is already using fracking in the Northwest Territories, apparently without any requirement for environmental review of this controversial technology. Further, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board is not commenting on the use of fracking and says it falls under the jurisdiction of the National Energy Board. The National Energy Board says they can’t comment because of confidentiality agreements.

What’s going on here, Mr. Minister? Can the Minister inform the Assembly whether fracking is currently underway...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my colleague’s comments and questions on fracking yesterday with some questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I would like to recognize the controversial aspects and potentially severe impacts of fracking. We need to take proactive steps to become informed ourselves and educate our citizens towards making the right decisions. First, of course, we need the facts. Will the Minister commit to getting departmental research underway on the issues involving fracking and supplying information to committees for their review...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one brief comment, really. I’m sad to see the wildlife division going the way of other government departments with the high expenditures on IT, and I suspect this is just the beginning. There has been a long tradition of scientists within that division being able to handle their data and I’m afraid now this is the start of a tract that will be costly and go well, into the future, into the millions of dollars. Just a note of sadness, Mr. Chair. I’ll leave it at that.