Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I made reference to the Tamerlane Ventures venture at the old Pine Point site. I notice today -- I can’t find the page where the Finance Minister referenced it -- he talked about several different potential mining projects but he left Tamerlane off the list.
The Finance Minister also kept making reference to Taltson and the supply of power to the mines and power purchase agreements. I can’t even guess how much money the government has spent running down that road of trying to sell hydro to the diamond mines. The diamond mines have a limited life. We have a small venture south of the lake which could bring amazing employment opportunities to Hay River, and economic activity. I want to know where this government is at. Like I say, it didn’t rank for mention in the budget address today. Where does the government see themselves putting a priority on doing what we can reasonably to assist with getting that project up and off the ground in terms of cost to power?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was an oversight. The list of examples wasn’t meant to be exhaustive but it was fairly exhaustive, except for Tamerlane. I do acknowledge that. We could have easily put that in there as another example of a project that has great potential in the South Slave. We’re going to be looking at all those opportunities, as indicated in the budget address again, as we examine the assumptions for Taltson and all the related issues. The Premier will be standing up in the House during the life of this session to speak to the people and speak to this Legislature about the details that are currently being considered.
Hydro power went to Pine Point in the old Cominco days. Tamerlane’s site is so close to where the hydro went and where the road goes, it would seem that with all those kinds of proximity and access to services that this would kind of be a no-brainer in terms of this government lending some support to a project like this which has so much potential for a community like Hay River. As I said, we do appreciate the government infrastructure going in there, but let me tell you, with about 100 jobs on our doorstep right now, we could absorb vacant housing without any extra expansion. This one seems like it’s pretty straightforward. What is the government proactively doing to see what they can do to assist with getting this project off the ground?
My understanding is that the resource prices haven’t been high enough for them to proceed much further. We are interested as a government in looking at how we can be as supportive to any number of industries and projects like Tamerlane. I agree with the Member; it’s geographically located very close to the source. It’s on a highway system. It has many things in its favour. When the Premier stands up to speak in the next few weeks, he’ll be tying those together as we revisit the assumptions of the current project as well as what are some of the other factors that are being considered.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
