Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a song that goes something like this, “wintertime is coming, wintertime is coming.” However, I’m not allowed to sing it, so I’m going to say, Mr. Speaker, that winter is here and it’s time to turn up the heat in the Sahtu. I’m not talking about global warming, Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about providing affordable heat to homes and businesses in the Sahtu region.
Earlier this session, I stood up and talked about the energy initiatives in my region and I would like to come back to that today, Mr. Speaker, because it’s a hot issue. I don’t think there are any or enough energy initiatives being done in the Sahtu. For example, I see significant investments in geothermal technology and expansion of residual heat in the Nahendeh and Deh Cho. The Inuvialuit Settlement Region will see a huge wind project and the South Slave has some very impressive projects to reduce the high cost of energy and they’re fast to construct mini-hydro in other areas, then the Sahtu. Deline has been waiting 16 years to construct their mini-hydro project. Mr. Speaker, even a wood pellet boiler right here in the Legislative Assembly.
All of these energy initiatives are in the thousands of dollars, if not millions. Mr. Speaker, this year the Government of the Northwest Territories plans to invest $100,000 in energy feasibility studies in the Sahtu. They hope the return of the allocated $100,000 investment will see action in the Sahtu real soon, not eight years down the road. Heating costs in our communities have remained very high. We spend a lot of money building facilities like pools and arenas, but they become too expensive to operate, because we can’t afford the heat and we have to close these key facilities due to non-payment of our power bills.
So this afternoon I would like to hear about the Mackenzie Gas Project update and how the Government of the Northwest Territories can look at the possibilities of converting some of the Sahtu communities to natural gas for power generation and heat.
Mr. Speaker, we need to use this energy wisely. We should consider residual heat and cogeneration facilities, where the heat generated from the power production is used to heat buildings in communities. It is frustrating to see energy waste when we pay so much to heat our homes and many of these costs in the small communities are paid for by subsidies that come from our tax dollars.
Mr. Speaker, public money should be put to good use. We need to invest in long-term plans to reduce the costs of living, to create sustainable communities. Mr. Speaker, the investment I see in other parts of the Northwest Territories let me know that we have the ability to develop better energy strategies for the Sahtu. We are at the beginning of another long, cold winter. We must act now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
