Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about the viability of a pellet mill in the Northwest Territories to manufacture pellets for wood-burning stoves and boilers.
Mr. Speaker, we have the trees. We have the sustainable inventory of trees. We have an increasing demand for pellets. We started off with a lot of residential pellet stoves and it was at that time somewhat more practical to bring in bags of pellets to have them imported from Alberta and British Columbia. But, Mr. Speaker, as we all know, this government has undertaken numerous initiatives to convert buildings owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories to pellet burning boilers; this building being one of them, the schools in Hay River being another example, the North Slave Correctional Centre being another example.
Mr. Speaker, as this demand grows for pellets in the Northwest Territories, with our vast forest and our need for employment opportunities and economic ventures for our people, it is time that we get ahead of this demand and start working now to develop a pellet manufacturing business, and by doing so, not requiring us to import pellets for burning in the Northwest Territories.
As I said, the demand is increasing. Perhaps it’s not at a level yet today where the viability is all there for having a manufacturing facility in the Northwest Territories, but it would take a few months, years, to get something like this off the ground. So we need to be proactive, we need to think ahead, we need to put our money where our mouth is in terms of our commitment to green energy initiatives and get to work on this.
Later today, in question period, I’ll have questions for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources on where the research is within his department to ensure that we get a facility to manufacture pellets for the people of the Northwest Territories as soon as reasonably possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
