Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just want to touch on the topics I would like to cover during the review of the Environment and Natural Resources budget. I am interested in seeing what type of forest development with working with some forest industry people can be realized by the department and by the Government of the Northwest Territories.

I am interested in where things go with the conservation economy. There is a lot of talk about developing some sort of conservation economy in order to develop or look at possible legislation that may exist in protecting wetlands. I think that is...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is that data available to the department? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know in the House, small communities have lower incomes and there would be some impact from the carbon tax so this money that the federal government has put in place is very specific to transitioning Indigenous off diesel fuel. I was wondering if the Minister could advise us if there have been any discussions specific to that initiative. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is intermittent water quality information on the Talston River sufficient for the department to do any mitigation, if necessary? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The focus of the charette will be discussions and impacts and opportunities presented by the impending carbon tax and come up with a northern solution. Will the GNWT begin discussions with the group that is working on coming up with a charette?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I had the same type of questions for Talston River. So in the Talston River, I think Talston River just runs within the NWT from maybe I'm not 100 per cent sure, but I'm pretty sure all of the spots I know of the Talston River are all within the NWT. Is there that type of information? Even though this doesn't run from another jurisdiction, that type of information on the Talston River, say, going from Rocher River all the way back up to, say, Deskataway and Nonacho. I wonder if that is something that, if the same type of work goes on in the Talston, and...

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, affordable energy, the cost of living, reduction in diesel use in remote communities, microgrid technology, the impending carbon tax are all big, important issues, especially for the 26 offgrid communities. Today, we will focus our attention in this House on those issues.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen what is possible with microgrids in Colville Lake and what is achievable with similar technology in the communities. The communities have also seen what is possible with power purchase agreements and economic opportunities in Lutselk'e, and what can be realized in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask the Minister if that information gathered from that work by the federal government is available to us. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have a couple of questions for the Minister on fire suppression. This is fire suppression for the wildland fires. I know that we have a MARS agreement with other jurisdictions, but I would like to ask the Minister if he could commit to ensuring that all of the trained firefighters and extra firefighters in the NWT are utilized before we enact any agreement with another jurisdiction? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, is that cleaning up liabilities for only contaminated sites that are the responsibility of the GNWT? How does the contaminated sites retained by the federal government work in as far as remediation? Thank you, Mr. Chair.