Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of New Energy Initiatives, Mr. Bob McLeod. As mentioned in my Member’s statement earlier today, fossil fuels are failing us in both supply and price, and the trends indicate that those are only going to get worse more rapidly. In contrast, jurisdictions are switching to renewable energy and proving the naysayers wrong in every case, surpassing targets big time. Will the GNWT take steps to inform themselves of this trend and implement such policies here? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels is a priority of this government. We have taken initial steps in the 16th Assembly where we invested approximately $60 million over the lifetime of the 16th Assembly to that very end that the Member has raised. We are following all of the developments. We have looked at what Ontario has done. We looked at other jurisdictions. It is our intention to do so. Of course, our main concern is to make sure that we continue to provide energy and that we do it at reasonable rates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. I wish it was completely accurate, but unfortunately many of those $60 million, of course, were directed to irrational subsidies of fossil fuels. Many of our people across the Northwest Territories want to reduce their energy costs. They have motivation and infrastructure suitable for generating renewable energy for their own use and for sale, but first a fair price is needed. A feed-in tariff price is fair because it recognizes the benefits and savings of renewable energy. Will the Minister commit to considering a feed-in tariff policy and requiring all NWT power companies to purchase renewable energy at a fair feed-in tariff price? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the Member suggests that we are irrational, especially since all of those expenditures were approved by this House. Nevertheless, we spent a significant amount of money to look at solar, geothermal, biomass, all of those alternatives, and we have, through the Public Utilities Board, worked with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to establish a process for net metering. We are quite prepared to go down that road. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I do indeed appreciate the investigation of that metering by the Power Corporation. Unfortunately, it has set a purchase price at a ridiculously low price and will go nowhere until we establish a feed-in tariff price. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there to investigate this feed-in tariff and put one in place.
The smart grid and time of day pricing have proven to reduce costs and usually increase efficiency of energy systems. An example of that is putting down, taking off the peak power requirement that reduces energy efficiency in our systems to about 20 or 25 percent; very inefficient. Will the Minister commit to learning about this tool and promoting its application in the Northwest Territories, the smart grid? Thank you.
The smart grid as described sounds very exciting. This is something that we would very much want to investigate and explore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment once again. We need to move from an outdated energy system that is costing our people in every way, to one that promotes healthy land, people and economies. What steps will the Minister take to get all of this done during our term? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we intend to continue to build on work that was started in the 16th Assembly, where we undertook a number of pilot projects and a number of new initiatives. As part of the 17th Assembly, we will continue to work. We will be looking to identify resources through the business planning process. We will want to continue to increase our use of alternative and renewable sources of energy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
