Wendy Bisaro

To the Minister, I don’t believe the Aboriginal Head Start program receives any funding from the territorial government. They are a federally funded program and it doesn’t cost anything for parents for their children to attend the Aboriginal Head Start program.

Maybe there’s a miscommunication between what the Minister is telling Members and what the department staff are telling the Aboriginal Head Start staff, but from what the Aboriginal Head Start people are telling me, I don’t understand why the two programs cannot co-exist.

Why does Aboriginal Head Start have to redesign their program for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This weekend NWT youth, their coaches and chaperones will have packed their bags. They will gather their sports equipment and board planes to travel to Fairbanks, Alaska, for the 2014 Arctic Winter Games. This event, held every two years in the circumpolar region, is the Olympics of the North and it’s a big deal for NWT people.

The focus of the Arctic Winter Games is still the same today as it was in 1970 and I want to quote from the Sport North website, it is, “to involve as many athletes as possible either in the Games themselves or in the team trials, and to provide a...

Thanks to Mr. Fulford for that. I kind of thought that was the case. I think my concern is that the requirement may be there, but as I understand it, the amount of either the financial security or the need to have the closure and the reclamation plans is up to the regulator, and if the regulator makes a determination and determines an amount of money that is not what is required or accepts a remediation plan that’s in its infancy and isn’t updated over the years as the development occurs, we’re going to be left holding the bag when the development ends or it folds in the midst of production...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. A number of questions here. I’m trying to understand this bill. I realize it’s based upon an agreement which was negotiated between devolution negotiations and so on. I guess, considering that we have an agreement that has been signed by all parties, why do we need legislation to implement the agreement? Why can’t we just use the agreement as the document that governs what’s going on? Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I just wanted to ask one other question. There are a number of regulations, I gather, under the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. Is my understanding correct that these regulations, Environmental Studies Research Fund regulations, Frontier Lands Petroleum Royalty Regulations, Frontier Lands Registration Regulations, will those be mirrored as the act has been mirrored?

I didn’t quite hear the answer, but if it was “in the appropriate manner” what does that mean?

Thanks, Madam Chair. Okay, understood. I wanted to ask a question with regards to the Environmental Studies Research Fund and the Minister mentioned that in his opening remarks as well. I understand the purpose; I understand who is going to be appointed to this group, but I don’t understand where the money is coming from. Could I find out how this is going to be funded with dollars? Thank you.

Again, it’s just one more thing that I think we need to add to the list of potential amendments to the act. I think, as legislators, we need to make sure that NWT residents are protected against potential financial liabilities, and we have to make sure that any legislation that we put in place around developments and so on ensures our people are going to be protected, that this government is going to be protected in having to pick up liabilities, whether it be through closure or whether it be through spills or whether it be through just bad practices as an industry.

I wanted to ask a question...

Thanks. I don’t need the exact section, so Mr. Fulford can stop searching. I guess my concern is that we could have decisions being made by an individual, I would hope not, but we could have decisions being made by an individual to exempt or waive or change royalties. So, my question further to this is whether or not there will be anything in regulation which will determine under what circumstances the Minister can exempt or change royalty payments. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Fulford. I’m still struggling to understand this benefits plan. If you say it applies to everybody, so there’s no need for an authorization. Is this benefits plan specific to the NWT or it’s bigger than that? I’m not really understanding what we’re talking about here. Thank you.