Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address a few more questions to the Minister of Finance with regard to an NWT green fund. I have to ask the Minister if lowering greenhouse gas emissions is a priority for this government, which I hope that it is and I think I’ve heard the Minister say that. It also seems to be a priority for our communities to develop community energy plans, because we have assisted them in doing that. Community energy plans have goals and they have objectives. So, in my estimation, we should be involving our communities in all of the activities that we do and we should be making things easier for them. So I want to ask the Minister why he is not responding to my questions and enabling communities to achieve their community energy plan goals and objectives. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am responding. Clearly, the Member doesn’t like the response, but I am responding in considerable detail. I’ve given her 60 million reasons why we are responding in the way we are and the work we’re doing with communities across the land from the 60th parallel up to the Beaufort-Delta.
I thank the Minister for his 60 million reasons. I only want 55 million. I’ll take the other five million, thank you very much, and put it into an NWT green fund.
The Minister has, I assume, but since I asked why he isn’t enabling, he must consider that he is enabling, and I don’t feel if he thinks that enabling that it is a fair process. He talked about the gas tax money and that communities have gas tax money, but in my estimation the gas tax money is used for the communities’ capital projects in general. It’s not specific to energy projects, and energy projects can be very costly.
A green fund would certainly assist in specific municipal initiatives that would benefit the environment. So why is it that the Minister cannot see to give me my five million reasons so I can put it into an NWT green fund to assist communities? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we are all talking about I think the same thing. We have $60 million. The majority of that money is going to be directed to projects and work in the communities. The government is doing some work on its own, but by far and away the vast amount of that money, that $60 million over four years, is targeted towards communities. Now, if the Member wants it to be structured differently, if the Member wants that $60 million pot to be called a green fund, I mean, we can talk about the process and the structure, but we have a huge initiative underway, and this is into year two, to do the very things the Member is talking about with communities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am not talking about the whole pot of money. I am talking about a piece of that pot of money. I only said I want five million reasons. I don’t want the whole 60. My problem is that the process as outlined by the Minister -- and I don’t even think there is a process -- is not fair. It does not allow the opportunity for all communities to apply for a diverse number of things. They can’t apply for small things like a feasibility study for a project. They can’t apply to do things like field tests because that is going to get overridden by something like a wind energy project. I would like to know from the Minister if he can tell me what process there is right now for the community of, say, Deline, to apply for specific energy funds to initiate a project and does he consider it fair? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as a government we are funnelling enormous amounts of money to the communities. We have increased that funding year after year, infrastructure money, gas tax money, community capacity money. We now have the majority of the $60 million. We have, in fact, had discussions with Deline. We had discussions with Tulita. We have had discussions with Fort Good Hope over their concern about hydracon, running the river with hydro. We have had discussions with almost every community. Communities are doing the community energy plans. We are helping fund that. We are involved across the board. I’m not sure what the Member wants other than to give her $5 million so she can put it on the table over and above all the work we are doing. I am saying we have that fund. We have a broad strategy. We are already working with communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I asked the Minister what the plan was that exists. I don’t think I have heard an answer to that. But I appreciate the offer, which I think I heard in that answer and the previous one, of looking at the process. I really think that is something we absolutely have to do. It is not fair right now. There is not an opportunity to assist communities in achieving their end goals; not the government’s goals, the communities’ goals. As this government revises the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, would this idea of an NWT green fund be able to be considered under the revision of that strategy? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of fairness, the Member keeps throwing it about that somehow it is not fair. We have put $60 million in as a Legislature, the first Legislature of the 16th Legislature to make that kind of an investment in the communities. We’ve put in unheralded and unprecedented amounts of money into communities to help improve community governments to give them access. We have changed the rules so they can have more ownership. Are we being fair? I think we are. Is the system perfect? We think it can always improve. In this Legislature, as we are going to do with the heritage fund, if there is an intent, a support and a demand that we set up some type of green fund over and above the work we are already doing, then this Legislature, of course, is entitled to bring that issue forward and we will engage in that debate. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
