Shane Thompson

I thank the Minister for his answer. I'm just a little bit disappointed in hearing that it's a generic one and I appreciate we need to develop a territorial one, but when we're looking at the small communities we're trying to get them off diesel fuel. I mean, ultimately, we're trying to make it a better place for people and reduce costs. So will the Minister get his department or the corporation to look at that strategy and talk to the smaller communities so they can work on something that they can make use of their money to make it more cost-effective to live in their communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I was talking about in my Member’s statement and as I was saying in question period, there was a public meeting with the Power Corporation and they talked about their strategic plan for the communities and the power, and how we're going to generate it and make it specifically for the communities. So I guess my question to the Minister, can he please explain if, by developing this, did the corporation actually work with the communities to come up with their specific one or is this a generic one for the whole NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I talked about the public meeting we had in Colville Lake being presented there as the ideal model out there. Is the Minister able to work with the corporation or direct the corporation to come up with a better storage operation that can be used in these smaller communities?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I spoke about the Jean Marie and their willingness to become more energy efficient. I applaud them for doing this great initiative. Mr. Speaker, I was a little surprised to find out that communities can only generate 20 per cent of their own energy power from solar panels and stuff like that. This is a good step towards our mandate, but we need to do more especially for the smaller communities.

We need to help them become more energy efficient and the cost of living can go down. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister responsible for the NWT Power...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 75(5) to have Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act, moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I'm actually thankful we're clearing this picture up and very satisfied that you're working with the community, and the community seems to be very happy. I know that they want to own it. Does the department  I guess this would be more for DPW questions, so I'll have to wait for that. Again, I thank the Minister for his answer. I'm done with this page. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

-- Mr. Speaker, can the Minister make a commitment to work with us to get these projects -- at least five. I know there's a long waiting list; I've heard of a whole bunch, and I think every Member here has heard that. So will the Minister make that commitment to at least five pilot projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I've heard him. Unfortunately, I don't think he's hearing and listening to what the community is saying and the region is saying. This is a regional health centre. It's not a community health centre. This is regional. It's serving six communities and it needs to be built, so I'm hoping that, you know, when we're sitting here talking about a health centre and we're the last one, is it because Stanton Hospital was the one that was being built? I've heard it being said, "No," but this is the message it looks like out there, is that we...

I should stop now. I got a yes and leave it alone.

---Laughter

I know, I know. Too late. It is on the record. Will the Minister look at maybe -- I'd like the answer "yes." Now will the Minister look at maybe a pilot project in my region in the smaller communities or one of my colleagues' smaller communities? Will she start looking at doing that? I know you're looking at it but actually let's get some action and actually do it and put some -- how do you say it? Feet to the ground and go and make a commitment to doing a pilot project next year in one of the regions or five pilot projects as you...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know the Minister has heard this numerous times probably from my former Member from Nahendeh and again from me on the floor: what's not in here? My biggest concern is our health centre in our region, which is a regional centre, which works with six communities and is addressing it. So I don't see Phase 2 of this in here or has that already been voted on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.