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...

I thank the Minister for that answer, and it's actually great to hear that the corporation is working with other departments on that and I think it's a good idea in working with the communities and moving forward.

The Minister actually talked about, you know, Colville Lake and spending $2.7 million, if I'm correct, installing batteries to make sure the solar panels hooked in there. Will the Minister look at the other smaller communities south to see if they can actually do that to make it more efficient for a community? Another pilot project, I would love to have it in my riding, but if we...

I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess I'm looking at when they develop this strategy, which we haven't seen yet, has the corporation actually worked with the communities to develop specifically their own strategic plans to help reduce the cost of electricity? So can the Minister please advise this House, if the corporation has worked with the communities to develop their strategy as part of their strategy, or is it the strategy for the whole NWT's generic picture?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. When he talks about this 20 per cent for solar energy, is that just the cap for solar energy or is it for geothermal, wind, hydro or whatever the community is able to generate electricity? So could the Minister please explain that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, during the presentation this week we heard from the Power Corporation and Colville Lake was promoted as, you know, a good model out there and we're leading the world at it.

So, Mr. Speaker, is the corporation willing to work with the smaller communities to increase this so that -- or come up with the strategies that they can increase this strategy?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to this Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Development has reviewed Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act and wish to report that Bill 5 is ready for consideration in the Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Reality is reality, and I understand that. However, it seems that, when we were a hospital, the reality was we'll build a health centre and we're going to run it 24 hours. Now we're just going to rebuild you a new hospital and it isn't going to happen now. It has to compete because of land issues. I understand that, but the biggest problem is for the community. They're looking for a new health centre, the residents. I guess I'm hoping that it will be brought in here.

To move on from this topic is the Sambaa K’e Health Centre. My...