Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I know he was well practised in the swimming actions there. I'm interested if our ferries are dead in the water without a fuel supply. Other than that response, has the Minister ensured, given the volatility of fuel supplies and the increasing uncertainty, that our communities have developed effective emergency management plans to deal with that situation?
The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the issue of oil, fuel, and the associated costs, and supply is certainly something that we wrestle with on a daily basis. Today I think the price of oil is pegged at over $1.28. All our communities across the North face the challenges of not only the high costs but the additional costs of transportation and having it delivered to our communities. In most cases our communities are responsible for their own supply. There is a market in most of the communities.
We, on the other hand, as a government look after the supply and storage and sale in 15 communities across the North. More recently we've also incorporated supply for the Power Corporation, and that's brought on an additional 20 sites, which has given us a lot more flexibility in terms of economies of scale.
We have had numerous discussions with suppliers across the North, and we have looked at alternate methods of getting the fuel into the communities, especially the communities on the north end of the Northwest Territories, from Norman Wells north along the river system in the Beaufort area. We are looking at markets in California and also in Asia that will allow us to have flexibility. If there’s a short supply in one area, that will allow us to go to a different area. So we've had quite a bit of discussion.
In terms of an emergency fuel supply it's something that's always, of course, an issue. We deal with it on a situation-by-situation basis. However, we've not had that situation in isolated communities. It's something we continue to work on.
All our communities are responsible for energy plans, and this is something that they would look at also. We've had a number of communities move forward on those plans, and we continue to work on that.
Mr. Speaker, I'll take that as a no, in effect.
The Minister has not ensured that there are emergency plans. Every community in the Northwest Territories faces this potential. I'm talking about the declining ability of global production to meet global demand, and of course, we're totally dependent on demand. As per my Member's statement there's solid evidence that that concern is increasing.
I'm looking for a commitment from the Minister. Will the Minister commit to do more than just discussing it and actually put in place emergency plans if communities are faced with a complete lack of fuel supply, oil in particular?
Mr. Speaker, I don't know how he got a no out of what I thought was a yes.
All our communities have an adequate supply. We have the ability to make alternate arrangements if there is a situation where there is a need. We've not encountered that. We have new sources of supply that don't lock us into one source. We're flexible, and our fuel provider has indicated to us that there are a number of different areas where they can get the fuel from, so it's not an issue.
An emergency fuel supply at this point I don't think is something we need to do. We have adequate facilities in each community that will provide that fuel, and to have a commitment to say that we will have an emergency supply is just something that we're not ready to do at this point.
Thank you for those remarks. I'm not necessarily insisting that we have an emergency fuel supply, but I would like to know that the communities have some plan to deal with a complete shortage. Even if they do have an emergency supply, perhaps it won't be enough to get them through a period of time when the oil shortage occurs.
In 1973, of course, we experienced that with gasoline, but now with peak oil, we're on the declining side. We’re on the other side of 50 per cent of the fuel oil availability in the world, so this is a real situation. We're entering sort of a new era, if you will, and that's what these agencies are realizing, and I think we need to be progressive.
So, again, will the Minister commit to encouraging, promoting emergency preparedness plans for serious and significant disruptions in oil supplies by the communities?
Mr. Speaker, we do have all communities working on an integrated sustainability plan for the long term, and part of that plan is to have the capital plan included, the human resource plan and also a community energy plan. Thirty-two communities have already completed their portion of the capital process and the capital plans. We have eight communities that are working on energy plans.
Now, we have a system where we have resources and will continue to support the communities to look at other sources of fuel. At this point we have not indicated and earmarked any sort of alternate energy or additional fuel sources that we would specifically term as emergency. It's something we'd like to have at some point. At this point we're not in the position to have the communities specifically earmark alternate energy or an alternate fuel system in case of an emergency. That's something that would have to come down the road.
Final short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for those remarks, Minister. Of course, this is a real situation. Inuvik failed to get their fuel supply last year, and the surrounding communities suffered accordingly. Residents paid more and so on. But it wasn't a real shortage, and that's obviously a real possibility.
For the Minister's information, catastrophic events are going up by about an order of magnitude around the world, both in costs and frequency, so we can expect this to be a real situation.
I understand that we're losing our emergency preparedness coordinator. I'm asking that the Minister reconsider that. Will the Minister reconsider that position in light of this increasing need for emergency preparedness? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I fully recognize that there have been emergency situations and that fuel is of short supply. Incidents happen across the world. We have not yet encountered that in the Northwest Territories. We’ve had situations where some fuel suppliers were not able to get the supply that they required. They were able to work around it. We provided support and will continue to do that.
We recently met with some of the people that deliver the fuel and talked about looking at new methods and new sources and trying to rectify the situation that happened last year. We are not in a position right now to reconsider the position that has been targeted for reduction. We are, on the other hand, hiring and creating a new position titled sustainability coordinator, which will be funded through gas tax dollars. It will provide direct support to the communities that will continue to work on this plan. There are four different areas, but all communities are working on it, and this will help them complete those documents.
