David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about an important project I have spoken about many times before in this House and I’m referring to the Deh Cho Bridge.

I want to assure all Members that my interests in this project remain the same as they’ve always been, to ensure that the Deh Cho Bridge Project is delivered safely in an efficient and effective manner. The Department of Transportation’s overarching commitment is to build the bridge to the highest standards of safety and quality. We have a team of highly motivated professionals overseeing every aspect of construction. I have every...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Looking forward, a potential would be in the area of claims. There are a number of claims both put forward on behalf of the government and the contractor as well. So in a project of this size there’s going to be claims from both sides and there is some potential there, but we’re going to work to ensure that our financial risk in this project is mitigated at every turn, or minimized at every turn. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. Obviously this is an issue that we are paying close attention to. Fracking is a practice that has been utilized in Canada since 1990. I think the Member referenced it being banned in some provinces and territories in this country. To my knowledge, that hasn’t happened. It is currently suspended in the province of Quebec, pending environmental review, but to my knowledge it hasn’t been banned in any other province or territory in this country.

I would agree with the Member; I think we have to separate fact from fiction when it comes to...

Mr. Speaker, of all sectors, tourism presents the greatest likelihood of creating economic opportunities in each region, and for each community, especially in the smaller communities. Today I would like to talk about a few specific initiatives to grow tourism in the Northwest Territories.

We are now in the first year of Tourism 2015: New Directions for a Spectacular Future, the Government of the Northwest Territories’ five-year tourism investment plan.

One of the first priorities under this plan was to establish an Aboriginal Tourism Champions Advisory Council. The council was formed this past...

Thank you. I would envision the type of outreach and educational program that’s going to be looked at for communities is going to be something people can understand. It’s going to be at a level where people can get a better understanding of what fracking is. As far as residents in the Northwest Territories wanting to provide input, that opportunity, if the meetings get to communities across the territory, people will have that opportunity to provide their input. Again, I think we need to get all the facts on the table and chart a course justly. Thank you.

There’s certainly a lot of potential in the Northwest Territories, both in oil and gas development. In the Sahtu region, certainly across the river from Norman Wells there’s a lot of potential there for oil where fracking could be utilized to extract that oil.

We need to work with the regulators, the NEB. We need to work with AANDC, the federal government and ourselves to come up with a plan. Currently – I know my colleague Minister Miltenberger spoke of this the other day – there is a plan in place to coordinate efforts, to reach out to communities, and it will start in the Sahtu to let people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize our visitors from Ulukhaktok and the Nunakput riding, specifically Patrick Joss. I know some other Members have talked about Patrick. He’s a real ambassador for the community of Ulukhaktok and the riding of Nunakput and it’s great to see him here in the House today.

That’s common business practice for us to act as an intervener in environmental assessment. So, going forward, that would be the case. Certainly the more information we have on fracking, the research… I know the department is following it close as are the folks at ENR. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with and we’re fully intent on finding out what fracking is and, again, weighing the pros against the cons, the economic benefits versus protecting the environment. I think at the end of the day we’ve got a regulatory process in place here in the Northwest Territories that’s going to...

As I mentioned in a previous reply, I think it’s important given our financial picture these days that we look at opportunities to partner with people to achieve our goals of supplying the transportation infrastructure that we need here in our territory. Certainly, I look forward to the discussions with the Member, and the committee and those proponents that are interested in doing work with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Working together, we’ll accomplish much more. Thank you.