Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to the Taltson project, we are working with a number of Indigenous partners right now. The business case, obviously, a very important aspect of this as we move forward and something that we need to do and get right. We have some materials prepared. We're having conversations with our Indigenous partners. We will have some conversations with our Indigenous partners, and we hope that this is a document that we will have available that could be, probably, in the first quarter of this fiscal. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am just looking at this page. We have Arctic Energy Alliance has its own line item. As well, then, they are funded under some other pots of funding, including the year contributions are made to them, including under the community government retrofits and the community renewable energy program. Can the Minister or the department speak to the capacity or ability for Arctic Energy Alliance to carry out all of their work? How is the department working with them to ensure the staffing is adequate and that we're not putting all this money into an organization that, perhaps, maybe can't carry out everything that needs to be done? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Arctic Energy Alliance, as the Member is aware, is a non-for-profit society, to be able to reduce costs of environmental impacts, energy, and utility services. Right now, the Arctic Energy Alliance annual funding is both $2.74 million. We work closely on partnering with the alliance to be able to help us, to enhance some of our energy efficient programs that provide us with, to meet some of our goals. They are non-for-profit. We work in partnership with them. I'm going to get Assistant Deputy Minister Jenkins to just speak a little bit more in detail on how we're accomplishing that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Assistant Deputy Minister Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, the Minister outlined sort of the AEA. They're a public-facing, not-for-profit organization that promotes energy programs and services to residents and businesses and communities across the territory. The programs and services that they provide are central to helping us meet our goals and objectives in the energy strategy. They did receive about $2.74 million in core funding, and just over $3.5 million in supplemental funding to the AEA. They did utilize over $5.9 million in funds last year, and this resulted in a number of things: over 1200 energy efficiency rebates; 120 home energy efficiency kits that were distributed; 150 home energy audits. There were 54 community wood stoves installed and an additional 66 delivered to communities. A number of programs there, energy rebates for solar panels, wood-pellet heating, and there were a number of benefits, an estimated $1.3 million per year in savings in energy-related costs. They're a key partner for us, and they are delivering on the funds that are provided to them. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair, for the two definitions of what Arctic Energy Alliance is. Perhaps, next time, we could just keep the answer a little bit shorter because I only get so much time. The reason I was asking the question is I do want to know if the Minister has explored looking at a training program through Arctic Energy Alliance to help increase the capacity of the non-governmental organizations in order to be able to expand or continue to implement their programming better. I know that they have quite a good group of technical experts at the alliance. However, it seems that they at times do have a lot of work on their plates. We have a lot of money invested in them, and this seems like a great way where we could be training Indigenous-community workers to do audits, to take up some of the technical aspect of the work and create employment that way. The reason I was asking about that is that I just want to know if the department is helping the alliance to basically disseminate their information and use them almost as a training program for local and Indigenous employment. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that is a great idea. However, because they are at arm's length from the department, we would have to go back and have that discussion with them because I think that is a great idea. Some of the work that they are doing here in the territories to be able to reduce reliance on services is excellent, so it is something I can go back to the department and work with. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad to hear that the Minister is interested in that, and I would be happy to discuss it with her further at a break at some point. My next question has to do with: there are three items that are lapsing or there is not funding for the upcoming or the last year, that are in the 2019-2020 actuals. This would be the Tulita Solar Project, the Arctic Research Foundation money, and the Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative. It is my understanding that these all would be federal funding pots that we no longer have access to -- I know I am speaking fast; sorry, interpreters -- yet, they are all great projects, and so I am just curious to know if the Minister can speak to: can we expect to be getting more funding like these in the future? Then I have a specific question about the adaptation initiative. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Tulita Solar Project was again a one-time contribution agreement. It was for design, engineering, purchasing, and also installing some solar systems in the community. I believe that project is done, and therefore, it is no longer on our books. I think what the Member is really asking is: are there opportunities to not only just do this in one community but perhaps expand out to some of the other communities and look at projects? I want to say that there are some exciting projects that, without the government's help, we have Indigenous groups, we have non-profit societies really looking at going over and above and doing some of this work themselves, so we commend them. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just quickly to go back to the Arctic Energy Alliance information that was provided by the ADM, if we could perhaps get some of that in writing? It was really quite quick, so I would like to hear sort of the number of audits they have done, that kind of thing. I perhaps, probably, have that information somewhere and not just at my hand, so thank you for that. My specific question is around the Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative, which had to do with work at the ITH, Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. It was a study that was a contribution to the University of Manitoba to look at the stability of the highway embankments. I am just wondering: what came out of that study? Was there anything identified as being very critical from an infrastructure or rehabilitation perspective that we need to be addressing. Is there any way to go after funding tied to this study, so basically taking this study to the federal government and saying, "This is what the university has found. Can we get money to address these issues?" if there are issues. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's the Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative, and the Member is speaking specifically about a project that happened along the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. I do not believe we have received a report on that yet, but do any of the ADMs? ADM Brennan, thank you.
Thank you, Minister. ADM Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. The NTAI funding was a two-year program funded by Transport Canada, and it was for work along the ITH. Part of that funding was for the University of Manitoba. Again, that was a two-year agreement with them, similar to the two-year funding that we had. They have not been provided their report yet. I think it is actually due by the middle of March, I will say. We have to report on it by March 31st, so I will know within the next month. The other part of that funding, though, is we are doing some other work with the NTGS, the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, and they also provide a report to us, as well, along the other parts of the highway. The University of Manitoba set up a test section during the construction of the ITH, and they have been studying that section since the highway started construction eight years ago, I will say. The NTAI has not put out a call for additional funding, but we are hopeful that they will come back out for more funding because we do want to continue to study the impacts that they are having on the embankment, especially the University of Manitoba under the section that the Member is aware of. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Brennan. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I actually had a lot of opportunity to see some of the work of the universities and such, and there is quite a bit of research work being done along the ITH, so I just want to continue to encourage the Minister to use that work to leverage funding, as well, from the federal government because it does not always necessarily, maybe we can get our road repaired if we train a bunch of students to do it, right, and they come up with some innovative way of fixing it. I urge the Minister to be creative when she looks at that type of work.
My last question is just going to be around the Arctic Research Foundation, which is the money that was given to do the bathymetric conditions on Great Slave Lake with the boat. I am not going to get the boat's name right, but I have mentioned this before, the Nahidik boat. I got a chance to tour it at MTS, and it's pretty fantastic. Again, to me, this seems to be the way forward ahead of our polytechnic university. I think this is an area where we can start our knowledge economy if we continue to fund this more, so maybe the Minister can speak to: while there is no budget in this for this particular line item, is there any area in which she is looking to move funding to perhaps utilize the boat, get more students out there, and do some sort of educational piece with her department? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member spoke about the Nahidik and the opportunity I had to be able to go onboard with some of the youth who spent some time out on the Great Slave Lake and have a look at the some of the options for the Taltson hydro. It is a great opportunity, and the youth were very excited about that. I think what the Member is asking is if there is opportunity, then, perhaps going forward to be able to look at some of the opportunities. We are working with ENR to be able to discuss possibility for collaboration, so there is still a lot of work to do in terms of ensuring that the lines are lined up properly and done in a safe manner. We are still looking at options for the Taltson. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No. I think that is great news, what the Minister was just talking about with the Member for Great Slave in regard to the Arctic Research Foundation, and I think it is definitely worth exploring and continuing on down that road. I am very happy to hear about that. I am wondering, in that same vein, how many summer students and interns are funded within this area and within this division within the Department of Infrastructure. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have within energy and infrastructure, I don't even think this is summer students, so I am just going to put that paper away and look to the assistant deputy minister for energy and strategic initiatives, Mr. Jenkins.
Thank you. Mr. Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Minister mentioned, we did have the Nahidik do some work, bathymetric work, so what are the water depths and subsurface conditions, looking at rooting options for the Taltson project. We did have associated with that vessel 20 northern hires; there was a northern leadership program that had 17 northern students and five northern youth leaders. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, that is amazing news, and that is really great. I think that opportunities for summer students and interns as well as northern hires within different areas of energy and strategic initiatives is such a commendable investment, especially when students, if they are coming back from university, if they are going to small communities, energy and strategic infrastructure initiatives is something that every community needs. Congratulations to the Department of Infrastructure for that one, and I encourage them to continue that year after year.
My next question is in regard to the 2030 energy goals for the Department of Infrastructure, and I noticed here that there is a $5.3 million decrease in their energy line. One of the strategic goals that they had identified, and another one that I know that I hear about frequently from the people who I serve, is the cost of electricity in the Northwest Territories. I'm wondering, with that decrease to that line item, does the Department of Infrastructure feel that they can achieve their strategic goals with energy this year? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Within the 2030 strategic plan, we do have an action plan within the bigger plan, so within that plan, we are able to look at some of our milestones and to determine whether we are achieving it as the time goes on and if and where we make adjustments. Although the 2030 strategy is a bigger picture, we try and look at some of the ways where we can enhance and have a look at some targets so that we can determine if we are meeting our standards and, if we're not, what we need to do better and how we reinforce some of our capacity to ensure that we are in line with where we need to be. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My question was: does the Minister feel that they will reach this year's goals? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am hoping so, but I'm going to get ADM Jenkins just to confirm because I looked at some of the targets. They looked pretty good to me, but who am I to determine all the little bits of it? I'm going to go to Mr. Jenkins. Thank you.
Thank you. ADM Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I understand that the reduction was for a $5 million supplementary in 2021 that comes off the budget in 2021-2022, but in terms of the work that we're doing and the objectives of the energy strategy, we do feel we're on track. We rolled out a number of new greenhouse gas grant programs to support alternative energy. We doubled EE funding. Again, we're working on a number of larger energy projects, hydro power, and transmission lines, and we hope to move those forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The one last thing that I just wanted to say quickly to the Minister is that I really appreciate the ongoing support of the Department of Infrastructure for Students Against Drinking and Driving. That has been an annual contribution of theirs. I think it's a worthwhile cause, and I appreciate the Minister continuing to support that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister, did you have any further comments?
You're welcome.
Any further comments or questions under this from Kam Lake? No? Committee, we will take a break and resume with Mr. Bonnetrouge from Deh Cho.
---SHORT BREAK
I now call Committee of the Whole back to order. We are continuing energy and strategic initiatives on page 243. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. What I notice in the main estimates is that the Arctic Energy Alliance is getting $1.6 million, and biomass energy is only getting $200,000. From what I am hearing and everything, we are getting pretty heavy on getting away from lowering our greenhouse gas emissions overall. It's not going to come overnight, but there were plans to bring those levels down overall. We spend a considerable amount of resources, lots of money, on fuels, whether it be diesel fuels or liquid natural gas, propane.
In the future, it looks like we are looking at biomass, whether it be wood pellets, wood chips, or briquettes. I think briquettes are a common commodity. I think, in Europe, they are changing over from pellets to briquettes. There is even market where you can harvest willows to make your fuels. I am not the expert on that, but I'm just really wondering how serious we are as a government in looking at biomass energy. When you're only spending $200,000, I don't know what that's doing, but we don't even have a research and development area within Infrastructure to really look at this. We should have a line item for that. I was just wondering if I could get the energy guy to give me some insight into this. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Government of the Northwest Territories has delivered a number of biomass projects to help reduce some of the greenhouse gas emissions and also operating costs. The use of wood-pellet boilers has proven to be a reliable technology in the Northwest Territories. Residents, as well as businesses and local governments, have all benefited from this success. I do want to assure the Member that, yes, the government is serious about using, when and where we can, more biomass heating. The use of this is considered for all GNWT facilities that are being constructed. Yes, we are looking at it for any new builds that the government is looking at constructing. Thank you, Madam Chair.
