Committee didn't help draft proposed N.W.T. fracking rules, says chair
Robert Hawkins denies minister's assertion that priorities came from standing committee report
The chair of a standing committee that the N.W.T. government says helped draft its proposed fracking regulations says it had nothing to do with coming up with the rules.
MLA Robert Hawkins, chair of the N.W.T.'s Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure, says his committee wasn't involved with establishing "northern values and priorities" for the territory's proposed hydraulic fracturing regulations.
According to the government's plain-language summary of the draft regulations, the rules are "based on the views of priorities of N.W.T. residents."
When CBC News contacted David Ramsay, minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, earlier this month to clarify what that meant, he said the priorities came out of a report from the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure.
According to Hawkins, the reports the committee has issued on hydraulic fracturing called for ongoing and meaningful consultation on fracking.
He said the committee reviews what the government does but does not inform policy.
"A lot of info still needs to be gathered," said Hawkins. "Meaningful public consultation still needs to be developed.
"Committee hasn't taken a full position on this, because we're still learning about what should happen here in the N.W.T., and under what conditions it should happen under."
Hawkins says the committee supports a call for more time to review and discuss the draft regulations, something that was called for at multiple public engagement sessions held across the territory in April. Final regulations could be brought into effect as early as August.
The territorial government has not yet responded to a request for comment.