Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I stated my perspectives on fighting down the high cost of living through poverty reduction and reduced energy costs. This government owns the public utility providing the bulk of electrical energy to NWT customers. Through the decades, government has jiggled and tweaked, studied and reviewed, and we are not one centimetre closer to meeting our energy needs.
What are our energy needs? The cheapest possible power at the lowest environmental cost with the greatest local business and employment benefits. I can hear the reaction now: that’s easy for me to say. Well, it is and here’s why: in Nordic Europe, I and my colleague Mr. Krutko saw biomass-based energy systems owned by communities the size of ours using fuel we have in abundance here; communities earning the dividends of local investments and flourishing with local employment and new businesses. We saw proven technology in millions of homes and businesses that had slashed greenhouse gas production dramatically, cut energy costs and stopped the export of wealth into volatile foreign oil markets. Yet, here we remain stuck at square minus one.
NTPC review, rates and regulations review, the same old shell games. Millions of dollars of dithering, producing nothing but places to hide the pea. This isn’t some far-fetched dream I’m talking about, Mr. Speaker. Energy is our single largest controllable expense, and there are ways to cut these costs staring us in the face at huge greenhouse gas benefits, as many of us have stressed repeatedly. If our biggest priorities are an end to personal poverty and progress in fighting climate change, and I can’t think of any greater priorities, we have to stop studying, stop playing card tricks to hide the cost of power, and actually do something on the ground, do something about it.
I couldn’t be more disappointed in the latest of the endless rounds of reviews and I’m calling on this government to get serious on the solution the world is using: green energy. Let’s really reduce real costs. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
