Bob Bromley

Thank you. We’re getting there. I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I would say the world has balanced itself into a box, a boxed canyon if you will, and I guess I’d ask if the Minister would agree with that on many issues. So, it’s all in that expression of balancing. We have balanced ourselves to death in many cases and we know that we’re losing species at an untold rate and so on.

The Minister notes that we’re responsible for assessing, monitoring, mitigating impacts of development on our forests, water, as well as wildlife habitat, but he doesn’t mention the climate and that’s probably...

Mr. Chairman, thanks for that information. Will greenhouse gasses be part of the monitoring and assessment work that goes on with the projects? Is that now automatic in consideration of projects? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to just follow up a little bit on the tail end of our conversation, the Minister and myself, through you, our Chair. I asked about would the Minister consider implementing a mechanism that’s in the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, and that’s a renewable energy portfolio, a mechanism whereby we would require industry, new industry, for example, to start providing some basic minimal amount of their energy needs through renewable energy. The Minister responded, noting that he is spending many millions of dollars. He has got many projects. He’s replacing boilers. He has a lot...

Maybe I can pursue this at another time. I’m interested in if we’re saving 13 million litres this year, what is that as a proportion of the total litres of fuel we’re consuming this year? That’s a statistic. I’m looking for both fuel and electricity if it is available.

With respect to devolution, I’m asking the departments to maybe explain the changes that they’re encountering as a result of devolution. How many new employees and what will the duties be that will be new as a result of devolution? I know some are going to be just expanding the TSC program; I recognize the need there. So if I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I understand when the Minister references Northwest Territories boards, he’s referring to the federal boards. I know our Premier says we don’t have anything to do with federal boards, so I shouldn’t be talking like that, but in this case obviously we are the final decision-maker for recommendations from the water boards, such as the Mackenzie Land and Water Board. Is that correct?

Thank you for that information. Just on that, I’m sure the Minister is aware that in the last two audits, which were very good and comprehensive and thorough pieces of work, the recommendations where never followed up on by the federal government. Now we are the authority in most of these areas. Can we expect that the Minister will ensure that recommendations that come out of these environmental audits will be actually acted on and put in place? I think the 2010 audit repeated many of the things that were in the 2005 audit and I’m sure the same thing is going to happen in the next one. Thank...

Thanks to Deputy Minister Campbell. That’s good news.

The narrative makes reference to the senior science advisor, and I’m wondering who that is.

Just the other side of the equation, what I’m trying to do is sort of figure out what proportion of the totals we’re dealing with here. With our 13.5 million litres in savings that the Minister noted, I’m wondering what our total consumption would be and if the utilities are primarily electricity savings as the additional energy savings costs. How many kilowatt hours are we saving versus what our total consumption is? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to ask a few quick questions here. I appreciated the Minister’s opening remarks, although at lightning speed. I read every third or fourth paragraph as he was whipping along.

The first one was I wasn’t clear what role the Minister has in decision-making in the various environmental review processes for land, water and resources. I see where he says the department plays a role, but where does the Minister enter into the decisions?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this the area that would include the CIMP work, the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program work? If so, what do we expect? I know that has been a work in progress for many years and I think the intent has been to be able to identify thresholds that would help guide industry.

Does the Minister know where we’re at on that and when we can expect to have that sort of information? I know this actually hasn’t started yet, so I’m not expecting the Minister to be fully on top of this yet, but I would be interested in that information. Thank you.