Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't see NCPC actually being able to lower the cost of power. We still need the infrastructure. If we had solar panels and wind turbines and everything, even in our capital city, we would still need the infrastructure there to support the units. That has been proven over and over. I am not sure how many times we can say that as a Cabinet. We have been saying that for quite a while. I do want to say that the road to the Whati transition line is being used.

Yes, we could look at just doing small hydro projects, but the priority is also about, on the very next page...

Thank you, and I do take note, and it's actually a really good observation and a valid observation. When we all sat down as 19 Members before we elected Cabinet and the Executive, we made these priorities without all of the information that we should have gotten at the time. I think all Members would agree to that.

We also made a commitment as 19 Members that we would review the mandate, not the Ministers, the mandate, when that process comes about because we don't have enough money. We don't have enough money to deal with all these three infrastructure projects. We don't have enough money to...

Yes. "Knowledge economy" depends on how you define that. That is a hard word in itself to define. Of course, we need to work with our Indigenous governments for traditional knowledge. I think that is important to start with. We also have to work with researchers that we have in the Northwest Territories, all of the partners that we have coming up to the Northwest Territories. The City of Yellowknife did a study, and I think it was either $50 million or $80 million they were pursuing. It was coming through the North every year, annually, for research grants. We are not even getting a fraction...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no problem admitting my weaknesses. I think I have done as much as I can talking about Internet services for somebody who does not even watch TV, and so, in that case, I will turn it over to someone who might know more, the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The goal is to get communities off of diesel. The goal is not to keep it within our government or to have all of the power. The previous government, and I was a Member of that Cabinet, had taken the philosophy that, whenever government money comes from the federal government, give it to us, and we shall dissimilate it to the communities. I've been an advocate since I began. My first meetings with all federal Ministers, with our Prime Minister, is that this government will not do that. This government will work hand-in-hand with Indigenous governments. If Indigenous...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, as part of the mandate commitment, we will be doing an annual review, and so we will put those statistics in there. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, my direction would be for the Minister of ITI, and all Ministers, to work with all applicable stakeholders. That would include in our capital city; it would include the City of Yellowknife and our Indigenous governments that are located within our capital, or a proximity within our capital. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely, we do want to work with Indigenous governments whenever possible. It's a win-win. I say that every time I meet with the Indigenous governments. If we can get them more sustainable, they will actually give jobs to their people; that means savings on public housing, savings on income support. That's the way I'm looking at our relationship with Indigenous governments; not as a handout, not as a favour. We will work better when we work together.

Like I said, we are committed. I have no problem with doing negotiated contracts with Indigenous governments. As for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. If the Members would like, we can offer a briefing to the standing committee to identify where we are with each of these projects, and the timeline that we see for them, if that would work for the Members. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's 30 jobs that will be new; it's not 30 in every community. Some communities, like Colville Lake, I mean, having 30 new jobs there might be really difficult to achieve. There are jobs, though, that can be brought into it. I know that using, for example, the Housing Corporation, housing maintainers are jobs that should be, in my opinion, in every single community. Where we have an LHO, there definitely should be housing maintainers there, oil burner mechanics, electricians, et cetera. We might need to bring in some journeypeople, but I think that's our obligation...