Where would I find those funds? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Ms. Kelly.
Mr. Chair, those are information under Fund 3. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Mr. Testart.
I thank the department for their response, Mr. Chair. I'm pleased that we are working on this with our federal partners, as well, and I know that the federal government has made this a very large commitment. Is there a current set of proposals put together by the department to leverage our own resources with incoming federal funding? Do we have an ask to give the federal government to see some of this money flow north? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Ms. Kelly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are currently discussions going on between ENR and the federal government related to the funding that is on page 109, additional funds from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Mr. Testart.
Nothing further, Mr. Chair.
Next on my list, I have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on the waste reduction line, there is no more money left in there. Could I get an explanation as to where it was picked up? Mr. Chairman, I'm asking on the general page. I guess the plan is to go back to the general page, ask more questions? Okay. I will then defer my questions until we get back to the general page in this section.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Yes, we're going to discuss the details in each division and then back to the general page, where we can discuss it and call it. Mr. Thompson.
I guess I'm going to have to come back to this biomass as I'm really confused. It was done in Fort McMurray. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Ms. Kelly.
Fort McPherson. The project was set in Fort McPherson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Mr. Thompson.
Sorry. I heard Fort McMurray, and I was trying to figure it out, so I had to ask the question again, just to clarify. Thank you, very much.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Further questions on page 92? Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as the department knows, Fort McPherson has done a lot in biomass over the last couple of years, and there were talks last year of possibly tying in the school or getting another unit for the school and the community. I'm just wondering if there's any further talks on that. I know Public Works has been leaning towards more biomass projects through the community, so I would just like to get a little update. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding with our division talking with Public Works is that there continues to be discussion with Fort McPherson on expanding that initiative in Fort McPherson. The initial setup of the current facility with the biomass boiler and the plan for harvesting the fuel wood around there, in particular the willows et cetera, and a small mill that's in place now are good initiatives. My understanding is they're still having some challenges implementing that stuff. However, the discussion on expanding continues, that once they have this current initiative worked out, they will expand. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I know the biggest challenges the community faces is actually having somebody on fulltime, because in order to have them even on a parttime basis, whether it's working the afternoons or whatnot, I know the community is having those challenges. Would the department be open to other communities, like, for example, Tsiigehtchic, if they were planning to put a biomass system on the school and gymnasium, would the department be open to that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, with the energy initiative, alternative energy initiatives, they've been transferred to Public Works, so the discussion will have to be with Public Works. However, Environment and Natural Resources certainly will be available for the technical support to promote biomass. We're particularly interested in the technical aspect with harvesting of the fibre for the biomass initiatives in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know it's a great initiative. I also notice under the heading it mentions homes, as well, Mr. Chair, and I'd like to ask the department: How is that part of it moving forward? Is it with Ecology North, or who's actually heading up that section of it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Campbell.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That aspect of the homes, the woodburning initiatives, that transferred over the Public Works with the transfer of the alternative energy programs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Blake.
That's about it, Mr. Chair. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Further comments or questions on page 92. I see none. Oh, Mr. McNeely.
Yes, I'm back, Mr. Chair. I just want to add to the biomass. Currently underneath construction right now, there's facilities and piles being done in two of the communities, one in Fort Good Hope to support the biomass structure there for the school and the school in Tulita, as well, and there's a number of buildings and a storage facility, a yard storing pellets to supply the need. Now, if the principle on savings is going to see this government realize benefits such as we are currently seeing on the solar panel project in Colville Lake, I think we should strongly consider continuous support for the biomass. If it is working, are we are going to realize benefits and a reduction in fuel consumption?
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Would the Minister like to respond? Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like the deputy minister said, this initiative has been moved over to Public Works and Services, so I remind Members that questions on that initiative would be geared towards them. But the other thing is that on the fuel savings, I think it was predicted a 30 per cent savings on most biomass applications. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Anything further, Mr. McNeely?
None, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Seeing no one else on my list for page 92, we can move on to 93, page 93. Comments or questions on page 93? Environment, active positions. I see none. We can turn back to page 91, Environment, operations expenditure summary. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. First, I want to start off by reassuring the Minister that in no way was I ever questioning his integrity earlier in the House and in the Committee of the Whole. The fact that we may agree to disagree or question things is no basis for questioning somebody's integrity. In any event, I firmly support the work of this department, but I did want to ask a question about the waste reduction line on page 91. Last year, we had $100,000 in the budget, and this year there's none. I think it may be because there was some extra funding providing there to allow for some program development around electronics recycling, but a lot of that work is funded through the Environment Fund, which is supposed to be sort of a separate, selfsustaining fund. I just want to confirm whether that's what's happened here and that any further ongoing work with regard to adding more materials to the recycling basket, shall I say, would get funded from within the fund, the Environment Fund, itself. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Ms. Kelly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This $100,000 is a reduction, and the reason that that reduction can occur is because the program development money can come from the environment fund. The Environment Fund right now has a balance of $2.1 million, so there's room in that fund for this work to be done through the Environment Fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Mr. O'Reilly.
Yes. Thanks for that. There's another page in here for the Environment Fund, so we'll have another chance to look at that, but I appreciate the answer. You know, we don't want to develop a fund and keep running a big surplus in it. That's not the purpose of it, so I'm fine with this. I know, earlier today, the Minister made a statement about the Climate Change Strategic Framework, and I think I heard that we had a climate change strategy at one point. We also had a Greenhouse Gas Strategy 2011-2015, and that's winding down, and that there's now going to be an effort to bring together all of these plans into, or strategies into, the climate change strategic framework. I just want to confirm that, Mr. Chair. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.
Yes, that's correct, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and, as I recall, the consultations on this climate change strategic framework are going to start very shortly so that they could feed into whatever positions that the government might bring forward in terms of the national work that's being done on climate change. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. We're going to be rolling this out as early as this month on the engagement strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.
