Bob Bromley

Thanks for the Minister’s comments there. I don’t think they’re very accurate, obviously. I guess I would like to ask the Minister, what has been the greenhouse gas reductions net reductions in these industry emissions in the Northwest Territories for whatever time frame he cares to talk about. I’m very happy to see Diavik taking a leadership role on their own, and I think they’re talking about 4 to 6 percent of their energy being from wind compared to zero from renewable energy. That’s significant. The opportunity, as the Minister said, is there in a way that saves money. It’s not being taken...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I want to salute the City of Yellowknife and Ecology North as the co-winners of the 2013 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Award in the waste category. The award recognizes the impressive achievement of piloting and then implementing the first phase of an organic waste composting project.

From 2009 to 2012, the city partnered with Ecology North on a centralizing composting pilot project to learn about and test the process and to evaluate the feasibility of a full-scale operation. The three-year project looked to composting in cold...

What of those dollars are going to land use planning?

I guess there’s the obvious concern that this government is pushing very hard on development of resource extraction and we’re doing this in the absence of these land use plans. Obviously we need to take a cautious approach in the absence of these plans. How is the weight being given to that cautious approach, just as in managing wildlife?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just some quick follow-ups there. I know the Protected Areas Strategy is going through a number of five-year plans. I think the average to actually get a nominated area protected, should it be protected eventually, is in the area of 12 to 15 years. What is the general status of the Protected Areas Strategy? Where are we at? Perhaps that’s a question being asked in the reviews that are going on, but perhaps I could just pose it as what have we achieved of what we set out to achieve, and when can we expect to see the results of the reviews, and what input will committee...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table two documents today. The first one is from the students at Aurora College in the Business Administration Program, with a cover letter from Kari Williams, vice-president, Aurora College Business Administration Student Association, directed to Aurora College with an attached petition for extending the program to three years.

The second one is the Dene Nation support on federal changes to the environment motion that was issued on February 13th. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek your consent to return to recognition of visitors in the gallery, item 6 on the Order Paper. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

The Minister and I are on the same page there. We really would like to keep these students here, and engaged, and up working here as opposed to getting jobs elsewhere by going to schools down south.

The level of student commitment is indicated by the fact that, although 87 percent of the students are parents, they are making education a priority and juggling their parenting jobs and studies to get ahead. Forcing these students to leave their home territory for these advanced studies would be yet another burden. We want them to stay here, as we have said.

Will the Minister commit to report to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. My statement today dealt with the appeal from the Aurora College second year business administration students for the reintroduction of a degree-granting program. What action has the Minister taken to investigate and respond to this very positive suggestion? Mahsi.

Thank you for that, Mr. Chair. I know people used to rely on biomass for many of their energy needs. Biomass and good high-quality food, that was our energy sources way back. Today, obviously, when we’re proposing to use it to heat much larger facilities and so on, it’s a different scale of demand on our forests, so I appreciate that this work is being done and I appreciate the commitment to make sure that the word is getting back out to people who want to know that we’re on top of those sorts of questions. So I appreciate that and that’s all I had on this page. Thank you.