Michael Miltenberger

We will provide the information we can to the Member and to committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’ve been operating from the premise of we will do devolution and then we will evolve from that point. There are a number of areas across the whole spectrum tied in devolution where we’re going to be looking very carefully. We’ve said the same thing about royalties and taxation, that we’re going to be very careful and measured in anywhere, like the issue the Member raises, are going to be getting attention and we’re going to look at how we do business and are we the right size and how do we carefully change things if we do decide to change things, so I would say yes...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just in regards to the standby charge, I’ll check. My recollection was that we already had this discussion and we had agreed to waive that standby charge, but I’ll double-check with NTPC, but I’m sure that’s what we did.

With regards to the breakdown of the solar, I’ll ask Ms. Magrum if she has information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are still working on what we see as some needed improvements to fracking practices. That work is still working its way through the process. We’ve received some feedback from committee and we’re looking at bringing forward revisions reflecting the changes that were recommended as well as the fact that we are now going to be our own regulator.

We’ve laid out the Land Use and Sustainability Framework, which is a broad framing document with some very critical principles. We have money that we’ve allocated through the Environmental Research Fund to start doing baseline...

Our attention has been focused on doing a whole host of things tied into promoting alternative energy. For example, we spent millions of dollars on our Biomass Strategy. We created a market. We’ve converted our own institutions to the tune of millions of dollars both in retrofits and in the savings. We are working hard to get our own biomass industry set up in the Northwest Territories. We spent millions encouraging people with rebates and subsidies to convert to alternate energy, biomass in particular. For example, the Power Corporation is going to be covering the whole Northwest Territories...

I would say that that’s a goal that has not yet been achieved.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have 29 fire crews, combination of contract and our own crews across the North, understandably all in the boreal forest area. So we do have a significant commitment in employing local folks in the regions and communities to fight fires. Oftentimes, if there’s a big fire season like there was last year in the Deh Cho, we import all the folks we can find from other regions. In some cases we even have to import them from outside the territory if we are really pressed, as we were last summer where there was a flare-up, as well, in the South Slave. We were hard at it...

We’ll provide what is currently there and what we see as required next steps. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2012-2013,” and “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2013-2014.” Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Extensive work has been done on the stabilization fund, and as we move forward with the final budget of the 17th Legislative Assembly, as always, we are open to discussions, and in this case, yes, we would be happy to put that information on the table and engage in a discussion with the Members.