Wendy Bisaro

To the Minister, I guess I have to say – my colleague has corrected me – it was six years ago that we heard how successful community plants are in Europe, but nothing has come to fruition. The Minister mentions a lot of small things. Sure, we’re pushing biomass boilers in individual facilities, but we’re not developing one at a community level.

I’d like to ask the Minister, is it conceivable that this concept of a community biomass system will be part of the charrette discussions, because maybe if it comes out of the charrette it will put a little bit of a fire under our rear-end and we’ll get...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed today to the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation. I spoke in my statement about the fact that we are now giving up on the plans for power generation and transmission. The government’s message that we’ve been hearing in the last month or two is that we’re moving on to smaller projects now. I mentioned in my statement about community biomass, power and heat systems.

I’d like to first ask the Minister, has there been any work or any research done on community biomass, power and heat systems to date, and what has it told us?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, this evening will kick off the second Energy Charrette, the second attempt by our government to find a solution to the huge cost that everyone in the NWT, including our government, pays for our energy products. The first charrette, two years ago, began and ended with much fanfare.

The reports of the event suggested we would soon have solutions to our energy woes. How wrong that was, Mr. Speaker. Now, two years later, we are no further ahead. No concrete developments that will solve our energy woes and much further behind in curtailing our spending on...

Mr. Chair, I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My comments are not dissimilar to those of my colleagues. I will be brief because they’ve pretty much been mentioned.

I want to, at the outset, say that I’m very glad to hear the Minister finally confirmed that any costs to the boards for superintendents to withdraw from NEBS will be covered by the department. That was something that took us a little while to get that confirmed, but I’m very glad to hear that that is now confirmed.

I have the same concerns as a number of my colleagues in bringing superintendents in under the public service. Not that their relationship with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a letter and an attachment from the NWT Association of Communities to the Honourable Robert C. McLeod, Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, in regard to a resolution on homelessness.

It will be very short. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’d like to know from the Minister, when can we expect to see a community energy biomass system?

Certainly, he mentions Europe. I think it was probably three or four years ago now that we had a mission, so to speak, of Members who went to Europe. It was certainly evident in Europe at that time, and I imagine technology has advanced a great deal since then. The Minister is saying that it’s 3,400 systems, I think, this gentleman has put in, in Europe.

Why are we not doing it here? It’s been possible for us to do it here probably for the last four years. I’d like to know from the Minister what is holding us up from implementing a pilot or basically implementing a community biomass heating and...

So, from the Northern Journal, “The NWT government’s approach to power generation is muddled.” And further, “A disturbing trend of costly ineffectiveness, despite an endless series of consultation and reviews,” and further, “The NWT government has demonstrated it cannot manage the situation. It must stop wasting time and money with reviews, reports, consultants and experimenting with things it has no expertise in. It should create an environment through incentives that unleash the ingenuity of individuals and entrepreneurs. Do that and the problems will be solved within a decade.”

Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I think that’s it. Thank you.