Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today is a piece of legislation which, in our opinion, must reconcile several aspects.
First, there is a concrete reality, namely the natural resource that oil is. But there is also the notion of environmental protection, as well as the close relation to Bill C-16, which was referred in second reading to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs.
The Bloc Quebecois looked at the issue in that whole context and will support Bill C-25. In fact, this bill is somewhat similar to previous pieces of legislation, including one tabled in 1944, and another one tabled in 1983, when amendments were made to the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, precisely to allow for the inclusion of provisions to the effect that this bill is not covered by the Canada Petroleum Resources Act.
I would like to go back to some historical details. I did that in the case of Bill C-16, but then I did not go over the whole historical aspect. I think it is important to put Norman Wells in its proper context. This was the first Northwest Territories community set up exclusively for the development of non-renewable resources. At the time, there was a lot of prospection in that area and it was discovered that the region was rich in oil, even almost at ground surface. Starting in 1918 and 1919, oil was discovered in commercial quantities.
Imperial Oil Limited and Canada jointly own these producing fields. Canada owns the equivalent of one third of these fields, while Imperial was always very active with about a two-thirds interest.
The Can-Oil patch was created during World War II to allow Norman Wells' light oil, which was then a strategic resource, to be shipped in large quantities to Alaska and to southern centres. Roads were already being built so that this very high-quality oil could be transported to the South. Norman Wells is also the northern end of the oil pipeline which goes from the Northwest Territories to Zama, in Alberta.
I think it is really important to put things in context to see why Norman Wells was always at the heart of oil exploration. What is also important, as I said earlier, is that we just looked at the issue of land claims by the Dene and the Metis. We just told these people that they would be allowed to occupy a certain territory, over which there are major oil sites.
I think that we cannot disregard the link between the two bills. It would be dangerous to vote on Bill C-25 without taking into consideration Bill C-16 which was before the House last week and which recognized the settlement agreement reached with the Dene and Metis. Under this agreement, the federal government has settled a land claim and retroceded, if you recall, over 230,000 square kilometres of land, 1,800 square kilometres of which include royalties for underground resources. I think it is important to link those two bills.
Ever since 1944, the government of Canada and Imperial Oil have had an agreement about these fields and the projected recovery we are talking about, because that is the real issue. Imperial has found a new way to market and develop petroleum resources. In fact, it has developed a water-injection system that extends the area it can work on.
Since the company can, with this new process, extend the territory it wants to develop, we are being asked here, in the House of Commons, to stretch the rules and use Bill C-25 to amend the Canada Petroleum Resources Act.
According to 1983 estimates, oil exploration was supposed to come to an end around the year 2008. Of course, this new technology is not environmentally unsound, since, and I will come back to this issue in a little while, even the National Energy Board has examined and approved it.
So, this new process could extend the development activities to the year 2020, which would mean millions and millions of dollars in benefits for Imperial, as well as for the government of Canada and the Dene and Metis living on this territory.
As I said, the National Energy Board has approved the company's project. That is very important because, of course, when an oil company wants to intensively exploit a field and take that exploitation further, very seldom will it come with a study where, on the environmental impact side, it will say: "This has terrible environmental impacts, but we want to exploit it anyway". So, it is important that we have an independent organization from Imperial that would come and say: "Indeed, your new way of doing things on the field exploitation side is interesting and, most of all, it has no impact on the environment." That environment issue is very important in the present context, not only for Canadians, but also for Canadian Metis and Dene, who are on those territories because they always had a very privileged relationship with the environment. We know that their culture was focused on hunting and fishing at the time, and it is still the case today.
And the project is a beneficial combination that allows Dene and Metis to develop the new resources, that is oil resources, by giving them, through Bill C-16, their say on the matter, and also protects their old culture which, incidently, they are very proud of.
The National Energy Board did an independent review that supported the Imperial study and that company decided to get into a drilling program worth about $30 million. That program will deal with 12 already drilled wells and others that will be drilled along the field limits. The new technologies will allow to exploit it without any cost to the environment.
I think that this Bill C-25 provides us with the good oilfield conservation and management methods.
I was saying earlier that all indicates that the project will go until 2020. I have myself contacted the Sahtu council this week. People say they agree. They were consulted. It is true that the Northwest Territories and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers were consulted. Everyone agrees. However, I feel-and so does the Bloc Quebecois-that it would be a shame for this House to adopt Bill-25 immediately and then tell the Sahtu Tribal Council who represents the Dene and Metis: "Now that we have decided on your behalf how the Norman Wells Development should be done, we are ready to settle your land claims."
We feel it is extremely important that Bill C-16, which is now before the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, be examined first. One way or another, Bill C-25 is also going to be referred to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs. We intend to see that Bill-16 is adopted before Bill-25.
If we make comparisons between the guarantees given by the James Bay Agreement, we find that the government is on the right track, as far as land claims are concerned. We talked a lot about that. I talked about that when Bill C-16 was introduced in the House. I talked about the James Bay Agreement which was passed as an act of the Quebec National Assembly and called the Cree-Naskapi of Quebec Act, and the federal government did that too.
It is a bit for the same reasons that we thought important to hold this debate and tell you that we agree with that bill. It will be very important for Bill C-16 to be passed by the standing committee and to come back to this House before Bill C-25 is passed.
For all those reasons, I am pleased to announce that the Bloc Quebecois will support Bill C-25 provided that Bill C-16 is adopted.