Michael McLeod

Mr. Chairman, yes, we took that into consideration. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, right now we’re at the planning stage. We have, I believe, some money earmarked towards that in a supp and we have looked at a number of options in terms of sites and have looked at building size and things of that nature, but we’re still fairly early in the review.

It’s not something we can do on our own, but we certainly can have the different departments have that kind of discussion with all the different areas that need investment, and the growing concerns of usage and support, and security and compliance, and all the different factors. But it’s very difficult for me to say, yes, we’ll provide a cap. A lot of departments have requirements that would be affected. So we can look at the possible options. We can commit to having discussions with our colleagues and also have that with committee if that’s the desire.

We’ve done over 300 buildings across the North with the thermo-scanning and it’s provided us some pretty good information. We’ve also looked at doing energy audits and we’ve done a number of facilities in the Member’s riding.

In terms of the gravel supply and coordination from Public Works, we do upgrade our assessments twice a year and we have had some very good success in a lot of the communities in terms of acquiring gravel and savings through economies of scale, partnering up with government departments -- Housing Corporation and others -- and it’s also allowed the communities to provide...

Mr. Chairman, we’ve been making some investment in the community for the last number of years and as recent as 2008 when we expanded the tank farm from up to five large tanks. It is a site that’s most suitable for the tank farm.

It would be a fairly expensive, fairly significant investment that would be required to move the facility. We certainly can have that discussion with the community, but right now we have no plans in place to relocate the tank farm. We can have that discussion as we tour the Sahtu and his communities. I believe we’re going there in April sometime.

Mr. Chairman, we are doing some work on the school in Norman Wells. We did an energy audit. It has come back with a report and we can share the information with the Member as to what we’re actually going to be doing in the school. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the situation that the Member is referring to has been rectified and we believe we have alleviated the problem by moving some of the facilities to a different location.

Mr. Chairman, I had indicated that we were at the planning stage of looking at the replacement of the tank farm. That will include the facility that the Member is concerned about. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we have not done a whole lot of work in this area. It’s something that is still being considered and we need to work with ENR on it, and we’re also waiting to see some of the work that’s going to come forward as part of the Biomass Strategy. So it’s still work that we have flagged but has not been completed to date.

Mr. Chairman, on my left I have Paul Guy, the acting deputy minister of Public Works and Services. I also have Laurie Gault, the director of TSC. Thank you.