Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, my Members' statement was on the building standards act. In our mandate, we are committed to implementing the 2030 Energy Strategy, something that I am very excited about, Mr. Speaker. Object 5 of the 2030 Energy Strategy is to increase residential, commercial, and government buildings' energy efficiency, by 15 percent. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure: will the implementation of the action plan for the 2030 Energy Strategy include developing a building standards act such that we can ensure that those buildings meet that 15-percent target?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Meeting this target does not require the development of a building act, so the target will be met through grants and rebates that we are provided under the 2030 Energy Strategy. These will include the support for larger-scale building energy efficiency using the greenhouse gas grant program for building with industry, with almost $8 million in grants available over the four years. We are going to support community-building energy efficiency through the greenhouse gas grant program for governments, with over $7 million in grants available. We're going to support residents, businesses, and communities through Arctic Energy Alliance, and we have more than doubled their budget over the past two years. The Government of the Northwest Territories, the Housing Corporation, we all support the achievement of this target by ensuring that all new government buildings exceed the national energy code for buildings. In addition, we have $3.8 million per year for energy retrofits in the existing government buildings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is a great list of programs, and I'm happy we're going to meet that target regardless of whether we have a building standards act. I am very happy to see our GNWT best building practices followed. They are great practices. The reality on the ground is, if you are in a community, you can build whatever you want because no one comes and inspects it and no one enforces any of the building codes. Given this reality on the ground, is the Minister of Infrastructure willing to work with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and begin the work to develop a building standards act?
I commit to the Member that I would definitely look into whether or not a building act is needed here. I do want to remind the Member that, at times, Northerners and northern engineers and geoscientists are involved with creating the federal standards. There have recently been four building standards that were released. There is the guideline for foundations, geotechnical investigations and foundations and permafrost-rich soils. There is a land farm one that has come out recently. I do want to state that the national codes or standards do have northern input.
I recognize what the Member is saying, that the enforcement and inspection aspects of living in the North don't seem to be adequately addressed. I definitely commit to the Member to looking into that. We can definitely continue to start talking about this, but I don't want to commit that the government will be actually developing this act going forward.
I recognize, perhaps, the Minister can't commit to developing a piece of legislation right now, but to pretend like this hasn't been happening for years; I've read a statement today from my predecessor's predecessor in 2011 requesting this. The department has the information. This involves the Housing Corporation. It involves the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, and the expertise lies in Infrastructure. What I am looking for from the Minister of Infrastructure is to reach out to all the relevant parties, all the professionals, and get back to the committee with a plan on how we are going to get this done.
I don't think I pretended anything, but we can have a conversation about that outside of this. One of the things we've been hearing a lot is, A, we have no money; and, B, we need to reduce the red tape. Should we go forward with the buildings act, we would then have another layer of regulation that we would need to adhere to, when we already would still be forced to adhere to Canada codes. As well, there is a cost that would come with developing this act that we potentially don't have the funds for. I do commit to the Member to start the discussion with the departments that he's mentioned and see where this can go, and I would also then include the architects' association, as well as the engineering and geoscience associations, and other interested stakeholders for their input on whether or not that an act would definitely be required. I do acknowledge, though, again, that there are issues with building inspection and whether or not things are being built to code.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister acknowledges that there are problems with the building inspection. However, I think the argument that this would create further red tape, when there is simply no enforcement or inspection occurring, is not a valid argument, Mr. Speaker. It's a free-for-all right now, as soon as you leave Yellowknife, in regard to building standards. We have a number of codes and guidelines, some are enforceable, some are not, but at the end of the day, there is no one there to enforce this at a territorial level. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Infrastructure is: in implementing the energy strategy, and working with those departments, can we leave here at the end of four years enforcing those standards?
As an engineer, a professional engineer, I take an oath to protect public safety. That may be something that's not as out there as the doctors, who take their oath to protect people, but, yes, I am very concerned to hear that buildings are being built to a substandard level, and I will commit to the Member to doing the best that I can do in the next four years. As we've all been saying, this a very, very large ship to change course on, so I'm not sure exactly how much I will be able to change. However, I commit to doing everything in my department as safely as a I can, and I will carry your concerns forward to my department. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
