There is a saying I grew up hearing: ‘Too soon old, too late smart”, that I have come to understand applies not just to people but to governments.
The 19th Legislative Assembly has a 1,460 day (four-year) mandate that is nearly exhausted in every sense of the word. On Oct. 3, we elect the 20th Legislative Assembly. In the dying days of their term, the GNWT and assembly have belatedly realized that, as in all areas of government endeavor, including energy and climate change, the status quo is not working and no one government can go it alone.
This brings to mind another saying: ‘Better late than never’. The GNWT has acknowledged the inadequacy of the current 2030 Energy Strategy and Climate Change Strategic Framework from 2018, designed by tinkering with the status quo resulting in dangerous under achievement, in a difficult time requiring bold leadership and vision.
To their credit, having acknowledged these serious shortcomings, the GNWT, in one of their final acts, has decided to set up a public process to update the energy and climate change strategies, though detractors will say it is too little, too late, to use another well-used saying.
To that end, the GNWT is in the process of convening a three-day, invitation-only conference July 5, 6 and 7 in Yellowknife. Staying true to form, the GNWT will send out a discussion guide outlining key issues, as they see them, along with key questions, as they see them, and the results of a study the GNWT commissioned to better understand what low-carbon pathways could look like in the NWT.
It is my intention, over the next few columns before the big conference, to look at very specific, wide-ranging questions and answers I know many Northerners have. The GNWT has gotten us into the predicament the NWT is currently in. Now it is up to us to weigh in ahead of the conference with our best advice to the 20th assembly on what it needs to do to create the conditions with the other governments, to get the NWT on a strong, bold path forward, in this case in regards to energy and climate change.
For the rest of this column, in the interests of transparency and consensus government, I would like to pose a number of questions on the process being proposed for the conference:
How many invitees are there and who picked them?
What is the balance of invitees among governments, business, NGOs and the public?
Will there be representation from across the regions?
The costs are prohibitive for those outside of Yellowknife, especially if you are not with government. The GNWT says under certain circumstances there may be some funding available? Without fair, affordable access the conference will be heavily skewed to governments, big organizations and folks from Yellowknife.
Who did the study on low-carbon pathways referred to and what were the terms of reference?
Is this strictly an in-person conference with no joining in by Zoom?
Will the proceedings be live streamed?
Given that we, along with the rest of the world, are in the midst of a global climate emergency and immediate action is critical, how can the GNWT say ‘it intends for the outcomes of the engagement process to inform the five year review of the Energy Strategy and Climate Change Strategic Framework’? That will be akin to the Emperor Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
In the communities, the kitchen tables, and boardrooms across the NWT, there is an enormous sense of urgency and apprehension about turmoil and uncertainty that faces us. In the June 19 column I will lay out a number of clear, immediate things that can be done to move from current perpetual planning and study to action.
The incoming MLAs of the 20th assembly will know, just having been through a long election campaign, how their constituents and communities are barely surviving the energy and climate challenges along with housing, healthcare, economic and other challenges, and that we will not survive another four years of the status quo while a leisurely review of the current inadequate strategy is carried out.