Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member’s statement – and I used several references to Member Bisaro’s and Minister R.C. McLeod – I want to ask Premier Bob McLeod, Minister of MACA, to follow in line with these questions. Like the Rolling Stones, I can’t get no satisfaction.
The town of Norman Wells is looking for some satisfaction and answers on their long-term energy solutions. Next year at this time, the town is going to be off of the natural gas system. What is this government doing to ensure that the town has a solution for their long-term energy needs?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with the community to address these energy problems. Obviously, we are cooperating in every way possible. As the Member knows, Imperial Oil has advised the town, for commercial businesses they will no longer supply natural gas after June 2013 and for residential consumers they will stop in June 2014. So the Government of the Northwest Territories is taking steps to convert all their facilities and take them off natural gas, except for the NWT Power Corporation who will continue to receive gas to generate electricity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m looking for a satisfactory answer here. I would like to ask the Premier if there is any type of support available for residents to help them convert to any type of alternative energy sources.
The Department of MACA is providing the town with funding so they can hire a program manager. The town has also engaged a consultant to convert to synthetic natural gas. As a government, based on our experience and working with the town of Inuvik, we think it’s getting late into the game. There’s less than a year before the residents will no longer have natural gas. The expectation is that the residents will be able to use their existing facilities to use synthetic natural gas, but there is some preparation that’s needed that we experienced in Inuvik, so we are going to work with them to make sure that they’re aware of the experiences that we had in Inuvik so that they can take that into consideration.
The town of Inuvik, the government’s going to spend about $300,000 exploring long-term energy solutions for that community. We’re in a similar situation.
I want to ask this government here, what are the resources going to be allocated to help the town of Norman Wells to find a long-term renewable energy solution like they have done with the town of Inuvik.
In Inuvik, just for clarification, we are undertaking a pilot project for our own purposes. It’s for our own NTPC power plant in Inuvik. The results of the pilot project can be used in the Northwest Territories, so whatever we learn there we can apply anywhere in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Norman Wells will follow shortly. By this time next year the residents are going to be off the natural gas. The cost of heating their homes will go up. They have the old energy report and they haven’t seen anything in regard to the kind of funding that’s going to help with the alternative energy solution.
I want to ask the Premier, in light of what the issues are going to be in Norman Wells, what can they expect this government here, within this short period of time, to help the residents in Norman Wells deal with the high cost of heating their homes and having energy in their homes other than what the Minister is saying right now which is, really, I don’t know what to make of it.
We’re prepared to assist in the same way that we assisted in Inuvik.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
