Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, income assistance payments are on the rise. Our healthcare system is stretched due to injuries stemming from excessive alcohol and drug use. We require this government to come up with initiatives to getting our residents back to work and curbing the excessive use of alcohol and drugs. This is affecting many of our young adults in our communities. Will the Minister commit to providing funding and developing an action plan to revitalize the trapping industry for our communities? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the trapping season is coming to a close. This is a good time to look back on the season as to lessons learned and look forward to setting a new direction to stimulate the NWT fur economy. I can imagine, due to COVID, fur sales more than likely not as financially lucrative as other years. I can imagine the number of furbearing animals being caught is getting less every year. I can only surmise the dwindling number of trappers going out every year as many will age out.

If it's not the age, then problems with the mode of transportation the snowmobile, as repairs...

I'll just retract that one. Maybe it's steamships maybe on that one, but.

The community government retrofits, was that the one that I was at ... or the energy efficiency incentive program, it provides financial assistance to reduce electrical, heat energy, and water. It's only a hundred thousand. Is that available for community NGOs and local businesses? Mahsi.

Mahsi for that. Mahsi, Madam Chair. There's a lot of little programs within here; they're almost kind of similar, they must be tied together somehow. But I'm just wondering about the NWT energy efficiency projects which has about $300,000. It's working with specifically, this one is stating it works with NTPC to integrate residual heat, variable speed generators and other energy technologies to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

I don't think I'm aware of anything like this. Can you provide clarification as to what that is actually doing? Mahsi.

Are any communities accessing this program and if you could get some examples. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I note the time was 18 minutes and we only got we're done with all the other speakers.

But I noted the Minister mentioned there was a project here in Yellowknife that they were completing, and she also mentioned previously that Aklavik has a system that the corporation is utilizing from a local contractor or a local organization that's heating one of their buildings. I'm just wondering if the Minister could share information in terms of savings through the corporation since that incorporation of that arrangement. Mahsi.

No further questions. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I stated too last week that I was very impressed with the values and vision of the corporation and where they got innovation, and I was kind of excited about that, because they continue to you know, they strive to improve. They're creative, adaptable, and flexible. Some of that stuff is leading well to the energy the wood pellet boiler energy plan. And I also stated about the contract services, Mr. Speaker. We can to encourage these contract services to the LHOs, you know, the department could consider contracting out these services so the contractor would purchase...

Mahsi, Madam Chair. My question's in relation to the Early Childhood Infrastructure Fund. I believe you had an application process out earlier in the year, I believe, or last year to apply for early childhood infrastructure funding. And that one was to preserve existing centres, also to create new licensed daycare centres. I'm just wondering if this program would help an organization build a new infrastructure from the ground up? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question from March 29th, 2021, in which the Minister stated that they're currently developing their own threeyear energy action plan to be released in the spring. The plan would include, you know, costeffective residential biomass system investments in other NWT communities.

Mr. Speaker, I've grown cobwebs waiting for the report. This is really I'm just wondering from the Minister, because they were working on it and currently developing, it said at that time, why nothing was progressed on this file at all? Mahsi.