David Ramsay

Thank you. Again, a lot of this has yet to be determined, and as we march toward April 1st, this will all come into much greater clarity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After April 1st of next year, the NEB will still have regulatory authority in the ISR offshore in regard to pipeline development and pipeline operations in the Northwest Territories. Currently our government is having a discussion and some dialogue on how best to approach the regulatory aspect after April 1st of next year and those discussions will continue. Thank you.

Thank you. Depending on the location, teen drivers can either drive to a location where testing occurs, or examiners visit communities on a regular basis. In cases where we don’t have examiners in the community, the testing is based on need and the examiners would go into the community based on need. That’s currently how it works in the smaller communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. It’s good timing; this is National Teen Driver Safety Week. We’ve also launched Project Gearshift, which is aimed at getting the types of behaviours and schools engaged in learning about safe practices when it comes to driving.

The Member asked what else we’re doing, and I know that in the Northwest Territories in the past when I grew up here in Yellowknife that we did at one time have driver education in the high schools here in Yellowknife. That’s no longer the case, but students in the high schools here in Yellowknife and in Hay...

Yes, I would like to, at the earliest opportunity, get a chance to meet with community leaders in regard to the Willow River access road in Aklavik, and going forward we do have to find a way to get some further funding into Willow River access road program. The community can avail itself of accessing the Community Access Road Program that they have in the past. So that opportunity is still available to the community. We’re also hoping with the new Building Canada Plan that communities across the Northwest Territories will have opportunities for additional funding programs to look at programs...

Mr. Speaker, fundamental to all this is a diversified economy here in the Northwest Territories. It’s great news that the federal government has approved Gahcho Kue, and that will be very beneficial for the territory and the North Slave region.

There are opportunities elsewhere in this territory. The government has done a lot of work in advancing the Economic Opportunities Strategy where we’re going to talk about how we’re going to diversify the economy with agriculture, forestry, fishing and also tourism. This is an opportunity that’s before us, it’s something we can plan for, it’s something...

Mr. Speaker, we have to just continue with developing industry best practices when it comes to developing the resources that we have here in the Northwest Territories. I think that will bode well for us.

There has been a lot of research done on the integrity of wells that have been drilled and fracked. Again, I think it all comes down to putting the facts on the table. I know the United States government has done a great deal of work in that regard in trying to identify any contamination of groundwater from the drilling and fracturing of wells. I don’t believe in a million wells that were...

Mr. Speaker, responsible oil and gas development has the potential to grow and diversify the Northwest Territories economy, and help create a sustainable, prosperous territory. Nowhere has this reality been more apparent than in the Sahtu region. There is a lot to learn when it comes to ensuring our residents are prepared for rapid development, and any development continues to minimize environmental and social impacts. Today I would like to share the lessons learned during a recent trip to the Bakken oil formation in Saskatchewan and North Dakota.

I recently led a tour of the Bakken oil...

We’re going to keep all of our options open, and again, I think this will certainly become much clearer as we get closer to April 1st next year.

Thank you. A lot of this remains undecided today. However, my belief is that we need to be making decisions here in the Northwest Territories related to the development of our own resources and we’ll see where we get with the discussions.