Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement this afternoon and ask the Minister of ENR, who I believe is responsible for a response to climate change, what exactly he is doing to address climate change given that we are recognizing increasingly that there is a strong element of time and the need for immediate and comprehensive response.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re doing a number of things. We’re looking at, hopefully in the next number of weeks before the end of session, being able to come forward with a framework for a water strategy that is going to allow us to deal with a very crucial issue that’s directly impacted by climate changes and global warming in addition to the huge development pressures.
We’re also going to be working on a land use framework that will give us a clear base to look at issues such as the pace of development, where we develop, how fast we develop, is it in our best interest, and how does it fit with all the other demands and needs to protect the land.
We have our own Greenhouse Gas Strategy. Granted, it is somewhat inward-looking.
We’re going to be looking at a biomass strategy that’s going to look seriously at the opportunity to replace those diesel generators in communities that are now providing electricity with wood pellet generators.
We want to look at the hydro expansion in small communities, but we also want to take a look at the opportunity to redirect the transmission line that’s currently being planned to go around the East Arm. We want to consider the benefit of moving that closer to Yellowknife, which burned 18 per cent last year on diesel, to provide the electricity for the community.
We’re shifting over to electric heat in some of the communities. In the South Slave we’re switching over to electric heat to see how that works. In Behchoko we’re working, and in the North Slave Correctional Centre we put in wood pellet boilers.
So we have a number of initiatives. We’re committed. We have a wind strategy up in Nunakput. We’re committed to looking at the opportunity there to do a pilot project in conjunction with other alternatives to see what’s possible there.
So we have a whole array of things that we’re doing.
Thank you for those remarks. I acknowledge that we have a number of programs that are getting off the ground, and I’m encouraged that we are going to be learning from that and that we’re starting to pay attention to the public here and the evidence that is strongly before us. Our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, if you would call it that, which commits itself to a 10 per cent reduction from 2001 levels by a certain date, is hardly significant when we are well on our way to or past doubling and are now on our way to tripling our greenhouse gas emissions. What we need is an absolute decrease in that. There are many jurisdictions, such as the Western Climate Initiative states and provinces, that are moving on this.
What are we doing to get real and move in a very comprehensive way to reducing absolute amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in the Northwest Territories that are currently doing us in?
We’re in the process of working with Priorities and Planning to set up a joint climate change committee. One of the things that will be on there is the work plan. We have existing strategies, like the Energy Plan, the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, that are going to be there for review. Clearly, that was done in a different time; it was done along with the energy strategy to access funds for other projects like mini-hydro and the Taltson project. Collectively, working together, we’re going to have an opportunity here, early on in the life of this Assembly, to revisit some of those policies and those programs and look at how we can improve them.
Again, thank you for those remarks, and I appreciate hearing those things are happening. Again, we need a really comprehensive response. What authority does the Minister have? As Ms. Bisaro pointed out, this response is required from every department and agency in the Northwest Territories, and in fact, we need the help of industry and residents as well. What authority does this Minister have, over at least those other government departments, to get some mandatory action on this issue, for a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions?
Mr. Speaker, I’m a Member of this Legislature, I’m a member of Cabinet. Clearly we have to…. There’s a process. We want to engage with the Members, with the Climate Change Committee. We want to identify some of the priorities. We’re continuing to look at some of these other issues, as well, and to the Energy Coordinating Committee and other committees. Some of the things I’m talking about, for example, biomass, I believe, would have a direct impact on the cost of living in communities, both to individuals and businesses. So the initial point of call will be the structuring of this committee so we can get up and running and operational as soon as possible to lay out the issues we want to pursue.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
I’d like the Minister to commit to requiring every department to come up with its own plan — and this is on both the climate change and the cost of fuel end of things. As a responsible government, we really need to respond to the cost of fuel as well as the climate change issue, which are closely related. So will this Minister commit to get each department to aggressively develop, in the very short term here, plans to deal with those issues that are concrete — again, that result in net reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of a significant level?
I will commit to put that on item number one at the top of the agenda for our committee so that we can, in fact, do the proper groundwork to have a coherent clear message we want to bring forward as a Legislature and as a government. As we move into the business planning process, we can give the government a chance to gear up and give a chance for full input from the members as well as, of course, my Cabinet colleagues.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
