Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we need a complete rethink of how we meet the energy needs of our residents and businesses. Messing about trying to tweak electricity rates to redistribute costs, reviewing yet again our Power Corporation with no creative guidance and ignoring community partnerships goes nowhere towards addressing our real problems and opportunities. A smart approach to meeting today’s energy needs can serve a range of important government priorities.

The unfortunate circumstances of depressed local economies, rising energy costs and impacts of environmental issues dictate...

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Next on my list is Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. We’re on general comments. Mr. Jacobson, were you raising your hand? Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There certainly are some good things in this budget, and I appreciate those. I think, at the same time, though, that we are missing opportunities. Here we are on our third budget. Things should be very clear to us now and, like I say, I see some missed opportunities.

I’d like to start, though, with concerns about capacity and implementation. We have a lot of what I think are very good strategies either developed or under development: the Water Strategy, the Hydro Strategy, Energy Strategy and so on. The biomass strategy, I hope to hear about soon, but I really have serious...

Welcome back, committee. I’d like to call us to order. We are entertaining general comments on the budget. We’ll start with Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. So we will start. That was general comments on the budget and, if we get to it, the beginning of the review of Health and Social Services. Is the committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for that response. On the question of energy efficiency, which I again raised in my statement, the government has been providing rebates, which do help some of our public but certainly not those, and there are many, who cannot afford the other 80 to 90 percent of the cost of energy-efficient appliances and so on. We know that there are big expenditures within government, but I’m concerned that we’re not doing nearly enough in the outreach. I don’t really see in the review information I’ve seen so far that it’s addressed there. I’m wondering where the focus is...

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. At this point in time that appears to be all the… Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I will offer general remarks outlining the approach I will take to our debate on the report of the Joint Review Panel. First I want to thank and congratulate the members of the panel for their thorough and dedicated work and thoughtful reflection of the mass of information and views presented.

Mr. Speaker, this huge report and its 176 recommendations reflect the many economic, social, cultural and environmental elements of this massive project. But for all its complexities, the result can really be summarized very simply. The report recommendations are summed up...

I’d like to call committee back to order and note that we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 62-16(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2010-2011, with a start by having general comments. I’d like to have a call for any general comments at this time. We’ll start with Ms. Bisaro.