Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. When the plan is developed, is the Minister prepared to bring forward a supplementary appropriation to put the appropriate amount of capital in there to support the tourism sector in the capital and as a launching pad for folks to go to other communities, as well? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. The Arctic Energy Alliance is our NWT-grown centre of energy excellence. The alliance offers a suite of programs tailored to our energy use needs. Over the years it has developed made-in-the-NWT programs for energy use planning to improve energy efficiency and the use of the alternative energies for commercial and residential users. These programs help reduce our cost of living, benefit the environment through reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and create local jobs.

Like many organizations with good programming in areas of high demand, the alliance is a victim of...

Mr. Chair, yes. I just make the case again: I do not want to see cuts in ENR to fund other kinds of infrastructure. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions. It is more of a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The same sort of questions I had for the Minister of Lands, to some extent: when I look at page 16, the total capital expenditures really jump around quite a bit for this department. I think I probably have some ideas why, but I guess I would like to hear from the officials. What is going on? In 20162017, it was almost $29 million; 20172018 revised estimates, $10.6 million; this year, for 20182019, it is only $3 million. What is going on here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the details from the Minister. Perhaps he can confirm for me, then, that we are not cutting capital expenditures in the future for Lands to fund other infrastructure. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just actually flipping back to page 5, where the lands funding forward over the next three years is shown. There does not seem to be much money that they are predicting is required in 20192020 or 20202021, so what is going on? Does this department not have any capital replacement or aspirations or anything? What is going on with Lands? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I understand it might be the subject of negotiations. Is the Minister willing to share that draft proposal with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment on a confidential basis?

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks very much to the Minister. I am very glad to get that commitment that, if the feds start coming in, we are not going to start clawing back money out of the Arctic Energy Alliance.

I am just wondering if the Minister can tell us what sort of program review or evaluation cycle is in place for the Arctic Energy Alliance overall. When could we expect that sort of evaluation to take place so that they can start to offer more programs and services? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that response. Good to hear that the Arctic Energy Alliance can actually re-profile money within their own envelope, but we have actually seen a reduction in their funding over the last few years because there was extra money made available as part of the deal to subsidize hydro low-water levels. Can the Minister, though, commit to bring back a substantially increased budget for the Arctic Energy Alliance in 2018-2019 so that we can continue with and build on the success of their programs?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Not much of a commitment there other than to talk. How do we get such a facility into capital planning, then? What is the process for doing that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.