Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, the money from the lotteries, as I said, will continue to go to the sports groups. The Member has asked if arts could be a part of this review. That’s something we’ll have to take up with the department and see if there is an appetite to have them as part of this review.

Again, I’ll say to the Member that the money that lotteries collect isn’t a huge amount, and it costs a lot of money to run sports programs in the NWT. It costs a lot of money to have arts and culture in the NWT too. But right now the priority is on the youth. We don’t want to generate more revenue by saying, “Play...

Mr. Speaker, as I said on answering the first question, there is a review. They’re working with the Council of Sports and Recreation and doing a review.

As far as earmarking some of the money to sports goes, I mean, that’s something they would have to come up with once they do the review, if the review gets done, and then decide from there how they’re going to distribute the money.

Like I said — and the Member didn’t disagree with me — the money from the lotteries is not that much. As the Member knows, it costs a lot of money to supply supports to youth across the Northwest Territories: bringing...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Workers’ Compensation Board Northwest Territories and Nunavut Annual Report 2007.

Document 110-16(2), Workers’ Compensation Board NWT and Nunavut Annual Report 2007, tabled.

Making natural gas available for communities is an area that we’ve been pursuing for some time now. Right when we first heard about oil and gas coming back to the Northwest Territories and people talking about pipelines, we commissioned studies to look at the potential for conversion to natural gas. Through the environmental assessment process we’ve indicated the need for the pipeline to provide for outtake so that we can convert communities along the pipeline right-of-way to natural gas. This is something we’re interested in. Plus we’ve updated our studies that were done approximately six...

Mr. Speaker, we do have the ecoTrust. That was the program whereby we provided incentives to NWT residents to reduce their costs. In this case we were providing incentives to people who were purchasing vehicles that were fuel efficient, and certainly that is one area where we are helping people. The Energy Priorities document, we sent it out for discussion. We are seeking input from the general public, and certainly if it is seen as a gap, we would look at it. I should point out to the Member that with the ecoTrust program and energy conservation, our focus has shifted more to energy...

As the Minister of MACA I can’t make a commitment of funds on behalf of other Ministers. However, I will commit again that MACA’s staff will work with community governments in Tu Nedhe to see what options they have and support them in ensuring their equipment and planning and preventative maintenance needs are looked after.

MACA provides O&M formula funding to all community governments to support them in operating and maintenance in their communities. They do a review every couple of years to see if there’s an increase that might be needed because of the high cost of living and supplying these services. MACA is always willing to support community governments to try to find the most cost-effective ways to take care of the equipment they have in the community.

The Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee is already working in that area.

Mr. Speaker, that is an area…. We’re at a disadvantage. There are shortages, but we have been working with the Arctic Energy Alliance, which has been providing a significant number of programs to fill that gap. As part of our energy priorities this is an area we want to look at. As well, we will be working with the municipalities and the NWT Association of Communities so we can find ways to provide that expertise. Certainly through some of the federal programs there are a number of initiatives that could assist.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of initiatives underway that deal with the issue of energy initiatives and also mitigating climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gas strategy that is being developed by the government would be looking at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We all know that transportation is probably, as the Member indicated, the largest sector in terms of producing greenhouse gas emissions, so that is the area we would be looking at.