Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I talked about the present Energy Efficiency Incentive Program and it doesn’t have a rebate option for insulation, doors or windows, and many of these products can be made here in the North and certainly those types of things make a big difference in heating your home through the efficiencies that they bring.
Mr. Speaker, my questions are directed to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about looking at expanding the program to include things such as windows, exterior insulation and certainly doors. Would he be willing to do that, and how can we look at it being addressed? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will soon be before the House with our budget for the year, and we’d be happy to have that discussion in that forum if the Member would apply his fingers to the keyboard and lay out with clarity and detail the specifics of what he’s proposing. We will, of course, seriously take a look at it in that regard, as well, or through the appropriate committee of MLAs, special committees that are in place to deal with issues such as that. Either one of those forums, either or all would be where we’d be prepared to have that discussion with the Member. Thank you.
I think most of us can agree here that with the operation of a house, a lot of money is devoted to heating it. Heat loss is a major contributor to poor energy efficiency if a house isn’t well insulated, the doors aren’t good and the windows don’t withstand the needs for cold weather here.
Is there a reason why doors, windows and exterior insulation aren’t part of the energy efficiency rebate program, which could go a long way to help Northerners heat their houses in a more efficient way? We spend a lot of time worrying about wood stoves, boilers, furnaces, toilets and lightbulbs, but these would certainly give Northerners a bigger bang for their pocketbook in the sense of better quality and certainly help them along the way to do these types of things that are necessary.
The involvement of the territorial government in energy efficiency conservation, all the areas of retrofitting houses, making sure we’re using proper appliances, hot water heaters, wood stoves, LED lightbulbs, those types of things, are part of a process. We’d have to look at the money. If we’re going to be providing rebates or incentives, is it to renovations, is it going to be if you’re building a half-million dollar house? We’d have to put in a certain percentage to encourage you to go to R-40 in the walls, R-60 or 65 in the roof. There’s some discussion to be had, there’s costs to be looked at, is it needs based? So, there are a lot of things.
It’s a fairly potentially big-ticket item, but we’ve been working our way there because we’ve been spending a lot of money on developing biomass strategies, solar strategies, we’ve invested considerably in converting our own buildings and those types of things and putting in a significant amount of money to help people convert to biomass. So, capacity is one issue, the Member’s raised it now in this House, and maybe the time is now to have that discussion. Thank you.
Would the Minister be willing to take this initiative back to the department for a review on what would it take to establish this type of program to include the energy efficiency element of doors, windows and insulation? Thank you.
We look at and listen carefully to the debate in this House, and of course, we will be having discussions about the Member’s questions. We’ll also be here, as I indicated in the House, before the House with our budgets. There are committee processes that we could talk about, as well, and we’re going to have to make choices to see what resources are available and other discussions related to this. As soon as we conclude this budget, of course, we will be putting the pieces in place for the next business planning process in anticipation of the transition to the 18th Assembly where, as well, this issue may be targeted as one that needs attention. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s certainly well within the authority and the powers that the Minister can direct the department to start evaluating this rather than maybe pushing it off to a new Assembly and to sometimes get the decision by committee by saying, well, we’ll wait for committee to provide direction could take quite a bit of time. In short, the Minister is well within his ability to say this is something we could review and perhaps provide some input back to committee, and that’s what I’m looking for.
Northerners need an opportunity to help heat their houses more efficiently. This can help drive those results. This is the best way we can get people using our program in a way that makes the most sense. You can only buy so many toilets to be efficient. You can only buy so many freezer chests, et cetera. Let’s do something that has real meaningful results for people struggling to heat their houses. This makes a difference.
I as well am of the mind that when I built my own house that you can never have too much insulation. I’ve got R-45 in the walls, R-60-some in the roof. I never regretted it for a minute and it’s over 30 years. I don’t disagree with the Member. It’s an issue of capacity and timing, so we will have the discussions about it as the Member has asked us to. Will we be able to launch a full-blown program in the next number of weeks or days? I would suggest that there is going to be work needed to be done, resources found, and looking at our priority list to see where this would possibly fit.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
