Thank you. I heard the remarks from the Minister and yet the WSCC report issued a couple months ago says 8.7 percent increase in electricity costs this year alone, and I am aware of no new community electricity systems in the life of my time as an MLA. We’re into our sixth year here. So that defies what the Minister is saying. Public consultation is about to get underway on a new Energy Plan, I believe yet to be seen, that will chart the future for energy development in the coming years. The Finance Minister set the rules of its fiscal strategy: no new expenses, deferred infrastructure, paying...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. That goes somewhat to explain some of the increases, although it does not excuse them. Obviously, in these days of soaring electricity rates and other basic costs, we can’t keep adding to the burdens of our small businesses, the economic engine of our communities. How can we wonder, again, while they’re throwing in the towel and not coming north? What is the Minister doing to keep rates low and what steps will he promise to correct the imbalance of increased payments being required while safety performance is supposedly increasing?

I have to say thanks to the Minister, but there is something faulty with the reasoning there, because there’s not much activity in our health care costs that we’re going to repress our businesses even more. I’ve mentioned the burden our businesses already have. I have a constituent, as I mentioned, with employees in Class 7, whose rates have leapt from 48 cents to 58 cents per $100 of payroll. The government claims this is a 6 percent, whereas my Grade 3 arithmetic says this is a 22 percent increase. What is the truth here? Obviously, this is a massive increase, but how can the government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week I spoke several times in support of our small businesses. We know that our small businesses are facing many costs, but what are they faced with today? This government has professed its commitment to supporting our small businesses and residents by helping with the cost of living and dealing with the basic costs for business. And what are those? Those are things like heating fuel, electricity, red tape, and WSCC employee issues and assessment costs. What are they experiencing in these areas that we have professed to be helping our businesses in, Mr. Speaker?

Let...

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. There are electricity generating systems based on biomass and renewables all over Europe. We’re learning now the Maritimes are doing it through wood gasification. The possibility in Fort Liard for geothermal, thanks to the private industry there in the community pushing it really hard. There’s even electricity generation from biomass in Senegal, but where is the priority listed in the Biomass Strategy? I think it’s item number 12 or the item for 2012, this generation of mine heat and power in a community in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I see no evidence of the active involvement that the Minister speaks of, or to being a voice for the people of the Northwest Territories. That is the very point that the Members are raising today in this House. The co-proponent’s closing comments letter contains no commitment to the preparation of a fully-funded perpetual care plan. Even though site liability supposedly remains with the federal government after devolution, site management will continue forever or until technology is found to eliminate the arsenic. Will the GNWT include the requirement for a fully...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my statement, my questions are today for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. As I said in my statement today, I’m amazed at how few of the concerns, so clearly expressed at the hearings, have been reflected in the proponent’s closing letter to the environment board. The commentary persists in the delusion that this is a remediation rather than a stabilization. Its silence on major concerns almost amounts to contempt towards the input of organizations and individuals. This government signed the letter, so I ask, given the passion and details...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The environmental assessment hearings for the Giant Mine Project were held in September. The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board heard testimony on the plan to stabilize the vast stores of arsenic and conduct limited surface remediation. On the first night of public presentations alone, 50 people sat through a 45-minute power outage to share their concerns. Seventeen people spoke, most staying well past 11:00 p.m. People care deeply about the Giant Mine cleanup.

Based on my observations, people spoke of the lack of a funded perpetual care plan, lack of a legally...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have raised my hand a couple of times for the tabling of documents, so I request that we return to item 14, tabling of documents.

---Unanimous consent granted

In most of our communities there is no private market for housing. This is a reality. We can say that if a household makes over a certain amount of money, they should go to the private market to build, but we know that’s not happening. In large part, that’s due to the basic lack of local capacity to construct housing. Again, reality.

Can the Minister say how this lack of local private capacity issue is considered in the equation of setting eligibility levels and whether this is under review?