Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a detailed question and I will review Hansard and, therefore, take the question as notice.

Thank you. The Member and I will have to agree to disagree. The issue of land quantum of what’s going to be available for economic development is not part of the Wildlife Act, which is designed to look at wildlife management and wildlife issues. That issue will be dealt with and is being dealt with as we look at some of the broader discussion areas like the land use framework that we’re talking about and as we sit down on a region-by-region basis once again in areas like the Deh Cho or the Sahtu and the Gwich’in where land use plans are being worked on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That particular clause that the Member references has been amended so that any plan to make any areas conservation areas or to withdraw any land will be decided on by Cabinet. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we as a government intend to come forward with a Greenhouse Gas Strategy that will address all of these critical areas and it may, in fact, become the position of the government, if not this government maybe the 17th Assembly, that we are going to look at building standards that are applied across the Territory for all construction and all levels of government.

At this point, we have the system that we just talked about. The work is underway to see where the improvements are necessary in terms of regulation and governance, and before this strategy is finalized, it will be up to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA is working with communities. They do have an investment, as does this government, through our various boards and agencies and departments to work with communities, to work with all aspects of government services and programs to look to the best building standards possible. In some cases we have direct authority. In some cases we can use moral suasion in how we do our capital plans. MACA is there along with the Energy Alliance, Public Works and all the other arms of government.

The Member knows and has been intimately involved in the process for the Greenhouse Gas...

The Member has offered two fairly significant extremes: one to invite him up to live in the North and camp on a river, or take him to court. I appreciate the intensity of the Member’s concern and we’re going to look for a more happy medium where we’ll talk to the Minister, we’ll have meetings with him and we’ll raise the concerns about what’s happening south of our borders and the need for strong transboundary agreements and proper monitoring on those major developments such as the oil sands. Thank you.

We have the good fortune to have one of our very capable staff, Dr. Erin Kelly, who is going to be involved in the process. As well, we’re going to be talking to Minister Kent about the scope of the project to make sure that they take a broad look at the monitoring that needs to be done and not narrow it down so that it becomes less than adequate. That work is underway, and through our Water Strategy and the negotiations we have on our transboundary, we’re also going to be pursing that very important issue as well. Thank you.

Thank you. That’s the challenge for all of us as we look at protecting the environment, the land, the water and the animals and balancing that with the resource development and economic development. When you talk about making land available for resource development, there is a number of different levels to that. There is land that’s taken up by communities. There’s land taken up for resource development. There are lands taken up for other reasons. So we’re going to make sure that we strive for that balance, and in some of the regions like the Deh Cho, there are figures being used in terms of...

Thank you. That’s not really specific or germane to the Wildlife Act. It is a discussion that we’ve had when we’ve talked about land use for example with the Dehcho Land Use Plan and other areas. As we look at finalizing our land use framework, we will be dealing more precisely with that particular issue. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think it behooves us all to have as energy-efficient building standards for all people in the Northwest Territories as possible. The issue is going to be to sort through the regulatory and government’s issues to, in fact, be able to allow ourselves to do that so that we, in fact, as the Member indicated, will have a common standard that is as high as the government sets for itself. Thank you.