David Ramsay

We are doing both. That work is underway for the transition to the 18th Legislative Assembly. But our priorities, when we talk about our goals, the priorities that stem from those goals are increasing employment opportunities where they are needed most. In a region like the Sahtu, that is where we need the economic opportunities the most. Thank you.

We’ve had a number of workshops in the Sahtu, in the riding where we have seen activity. Whether we would move workshops outside of the Sahtu remains to be seen. But again, I think, given the fact that we do have this world-class opportunity in the central Mackenzie Valley, looking at opportunities to get into communities to discuss hydraulic fracturing could be very beneficial. Thank you.

Again, Northerners have the ability to provide input into the assessment of every application at many stages of the process that we have in place here in the NWT, through intervening in the process, through submitting comments on the public record, to making comments at public hearings.

I have every confidence in our NWT regulatory system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve had some communities that we have had public engagement sessions in. If the Member has a community that we haven’t been in that he believes would benefit from us going to the community to talk about the draft regulations, we could entertain a letter from the community and take things from there. Like I said, we have some more time and if we get requests from communities, we will take that into consideration. Thank you.

I’m not aware at the official’s level if that has happened. I can make a commitment to the Member, if I can sit down with the leadership myself, I’d be happy to do that, to discuss just that. Thank you.

With the added time, we are going to have the opportunity to get to assemblies so Members can get back to their constituencies to talk to people. We will come back here in August.

Again, if we need some more time, we are sitting again at the end of September, first week of October. We will have to get back in front of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and Regular Members who want to attend that meeting. I would be happy to get that feedback, let the Regular Members know how the process went, what we heard and what the next steps are going to be. All of this is...

We are moving forward with draft regulations. We have had only a year, or just over a year. Our government wanted to devolve and evolve. This is part of the evolution. As we move forward, we can take a look at other jurisdictions, how they’ve regulated the industry, how they’ve been successful and not ruling out one technique. You look at BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, they’ve done this in a safe and responsible manner. It is about striking a balance, and we believe that we can manage our own affairs here in the Northwest Territories so that we can protect the environment and we can provide jobs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, later today I’m going to table some information, and a lot of this information we do hand out at public meetings. We have included folks from ENR and there have been people attend meetings from Lands. They need to be there to help us answer any questions the public might have. A lot of this is an educational opportunity for the government to let people know about the technique, how it works, what the risks are and what the potential benefits are through these draft regulations.

These draft regulations, again, address areas of concern for Northerners, air quality and...

The public engagement sessions are, of course, public engagement. The consultation with Aboriginal governments has started. I’ve written letters to the Aboriginal governments around the Northwest Territories. That is in the works, that consultation period. The added time to the end of August will give us an opportunity to get to gatherings and other commitments around the territory where gatherings are taking place. We will have folks attend assemblies and provide information and talk to people about the process and how we’re moving this effort forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations Annual Report 2014-2015” and “Hydraulic Fracturing Public Information.”