Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the honour of recognizing a gentleman who is known to just about all of us: Dr. David Suzuki.

From the Suzuki Foundation we have, as well, travelling with him Miles Richardson, Michiah Prull, Alvin Singh, Deneze Nakehk’o, and Steve Ellis was there from Tides Canada as well. I also don’t want to miss the rare opportunity to recognize my friend and colleague of many terms together – four, I believe, 16 years in the trenches in this House – former Premier Floyd Roland.

I don’t believe I’ve used this phrase since the last Assembly, but in due course and the fullness of time as these discussions advance through the charrette, we will look at moving as fast as we can. The question is going to be, how do we get from talk to action? How much money are we going to be able to put into these initiatives? Clearly, the intent is to seriously move with great alacrity on this particular issue. Thank you.

We started this process in the last Assembly with spending the time to develop our biomass strategy. Part of that strategy was to build a market, then look at building the industry, and we’ve done that. We’ve converted a significant amount of our own facilities to biomass. We’ve taken those savings and reinvested them. We’ve set up incentives to encourage people to switch to biomass. We’ve now just completed two FMA agreements, the first of their kind, forest management agreements, with the people in Providence and the people in Lutselk'e to lay out access to a source of wood fibre, so that we...

The most viable site, in my mind, is a place called Storm Hills, between Inuvik and Tuk, where they’ve been doing wind mapping for some time now. We’re looking at the viability of that site, and we know that if we put in six, seven megawatts, eight megawatts of power between Tuk and Inuvik, you could cut the diesel consumption for the production of electricity in half, and wind is free. We just have to work on the money. Part of the commitment here going forward with the charrette is the investment in those types of very fundamental community infrastructures that will allow us to make a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we intend to maintain our commitment and enhance our commitment to alternative energies, to biomass, and one of the questions that’s going to be posed tonight is what type of regulation and legislation do we need, in fact, to allow us to enhance woodstove use, biomass, solar use. Are there specific pieces of legislation that other jurisdictions may have, because we don’t have any right now. We have legislation that governs oil and gas installations and those types of things, so we are very interested in that. We’ve got pathfinders in the regions. We’re going to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Bill 39, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 4, 2014-2015, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. It was a long question, lots of technical requests, legal references. Let me just assure the public and the Member opposite that, at the end of the day, $350 million will be invested in Stanton. It will be a state-of-the-art facility, it will last us well past the time that I’m still walking God’s green earth and it will be something that we’ll all be very, very proud of. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 40, Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2015-2016, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make infrastructure expenditures for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, in this case, the proof will be in the pudding. We’ve laid out all the steps that we are following, the rigour and due diligence that we’re putting through in evaluating whether in fact the Stanton Hospital would even make the test for a valid P3 project and we have very capable people that are going to look at implementing the policy that we do have. It will be held accountable. It’s going to be a transparent process and we will engage on an ongoing basis with the appropriate committees. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Bill 35, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2014-2015, be read for the second time.

This bill makes supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for 2014-2015 fiscal year.