David Krutko

Okay. Turn to page 13-7, department summary. Can I get some direction to defer that page to after consideration of the rest of the detail?

I believe probably the most fundamental foundations for moving on this initiative is going to have government policies, a directive that directs departments to make the change. Like with anything else, anything new, a lot of people are used to simply burning diesel fuel. You put it in the tank, you turn it on and you call the fuel truck next time you need it filled up, but just get people around the idea that we’re going to wean ourselves off of diesel fuel or fossil fuels and start looking at these new initiatives. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, is the government going to be coming...

Minister of Environment.

So with that, I would like to thank the Minister and thank the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, would you like to escort the witnesses out?

As we agreed, the next department we will be considering will be the Department of Transportation, so I would like to ask the Minister if he has any opening comments. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Community governments must complete the Community Energy Plan by March 31, 2010. The Gas Tax Agreement requires that all community governments complete an integrated community sustainable plan by the same date. Community energy plans are one component that has been considered. All communities in the Northwest Territories must comply with this arrangement.

March 31, 2010, is only a month and a half away. As the information that has been provided by the Minister indicates that only 10 communities have completed this plan out of 33, yet some 23 communities remain to have...

Thank you, Mr. Minister, for providing that information. We could circulate it. Mr. Yakeleya, do you have any other questions?

Page 13-26, activity summary, wildlife, grants and contributions, contributions, $338,000.

I move that we report progress.

---Defeated

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses in.

For the record, Mr. Miltenberger, could you introduce your witnesses, please?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I, too, would like to comment, especially on the potential that we have with our forest sector in the Northwest Territories. I think that it is a potential that we have never really developed in any sense of the word and the economic potential it has for job creation and job opportunities. More importantly, we need to use the resources around us, especially around our communities where we do have timber stands and forest stands. I think we also have to realize that we don’t want to cut down all the key forest stands. If anything, we should be using the by...