Bob Bromley

My other line of questions has to do with the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund Program, a program which I am wholeheartedly supportive of. Although I’m sure some of my colleagues may have some reason to criticize it. I’m wondering if the Minister could give us, you know, perhaps not right now but in paper form if it hasn’t been provided, the payback times and greenhouse gas savings, and what the anticipated contributions to the fund will be from the projects being proposed from the fund this year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I received a response Wednesday to my written questions to the Minister of Transportation’s climate change adaptation statement of May 31st. It contains some startling cost figures and is clearly a prophesy for the future.

I asked for information on a number of topics, including cost impacts on the road systems. A five-year-old conservative estimate sets the impact on roads to $1.2 million every year. Five-year-old figures aren’t too useful when Arctic sea ice melt estimates are withering faster than the ice.

Elsewhere the response tops up the bill: $300,000, for ferry...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Interesting discussion there. I guess my first question to the Minister is: Does he see a role for promotion of the arts by GNWT and do we currently display local artwork in government buildings?

Thanks again to the Minister. I’m very happy to hear that that analysis is being done. I also asked and pointed out where there were some possible federal resources for putting, say, 1 percent of the space available on the ground floor level so that the public and visiting public can experience northern art. That did not include the sale of art but it did include the performance, some small performance venues and this sort of thing. Has the Minister pursued those opportunities?

Yes, I’ll leave it at that, Mr. Chair, and I look forward to the briefing that the Minister has proposed, should committee take him up on that offer. Thank you.

What other energy efficiency measures are being taken with this building? I understand the structure of it; it is a nice block which is a nice sort of energy efficient start, but we know that our electricity rates are soaring, and I am just wondering if there are efficiencies being gained in that area as well as effective use of the heating that we do put into the building. Thank you.

I guess I might be interested in exploring that with a little more time, but maybe I’ll just ask, is it anticipated that it will be rolled out across the territory comprehensively all at once, sort of thing, if digitally we have that capacity and so on? Thank you.

Thanks for the Minister’s comments there. I have a couple of questions. Does the city know the timing within which they need to respond to the government for the potential to pursue things? What sort of deadline was given to them? The other two buildings are Stuart Hodgson and the Laing. Would they also be part of Yellowknife community energy system according to the folks of the city if they came back with a positive response to government questions?

Obviously, the Minister is circuitous now in his thinking. Private enterprise would be providing fuel in our communities if that was the case. The reason we are in these 16 communities is because private enterprise is not there to do that.

Can the Minister say, with a straight face, that at 40 percent savings on your fuel bill, there would not be the demand if that form of fuel was there and you had a choice between the two?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize Mr. Richard Edjericon, a resident of Weledeh.