Debates of May 22, 2008 (day 13)
Member’s Statement on Impacts of Rising Fuel and Energy Costs (Krutko)
Mr. Speaker, from the food you eat to providing for your family to heating your homes, the impact will be felt all over the Northwest Territories but more visibly in small, isolated communities where there are already high costs of living. It will also affect our ability to even deal with our capacity to have fuels delivered in our communities.
The Inuvik region this winter had fuel shortages in which they had to ration fuel and gas to our communities. It’s already happened in the Northwest Territories. In regard to the food we receive and the transportation we depend on to deliver that food, the cost will go up based on the cost of fuel to deliver that food.
The cost to maintain your home will increase with the cost of heating your home. The cost of generating energy to turn your lights on will also go up in proportion to the cost of power, and the subsidies government provides will have to be increased.
From transportation to air to road, to be able to move goods and services and to be able to build the infrastructure we’re talking about, all those costs will increase. I think it’s very important to realize that through this budget process we do not know what the major impact is going to be a year down the road or two years down the road. At $135 a barrel we will see some major increases. They’re basically speculating that we’ll see $200 a barrel within a year.
I think it’s very important that we, as government, don’t lose sight of the cost of living in our communities. The effect that it’s having on our residents today is that people will possibly lose their homes. People will have to move to cheaper communities because of the cost of living. It’s a major problem, I know, in my riding, especially the Inuvik region. When I was home the last number of weeks, it was a major issue, from people going out harvesting to people heating their homes or people simply trying to pay their power bills.
At the appropriate time I will be asking the Premier questions on this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.