Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure otherwise known as the Minister for ebikes. My statement dealt with the upcoming rollout through the Arctic Energy Alliance of an ebike purchase rebate. My information is that this rebate will be available only in communities with hydro power. I stated the good reasons why it makes sense in diesel communities too. Will the Minister ensure that ebike rebates are available to all NWT communities? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This Minister of ebikes is happy to know that another Member's all charged up for this pilot rebate program, Mr. Speaker. So I can tell the Member that we had reassessed where rebates for ebikes would be available since the release of the threeyear energy action plan which was last fall. I'm pleased to let the Member know that the rebate will be available to all the communities now, including the dieselpowered communities. This is different from we do with electrical vehicles at the moment as ebikes do not require much power and will not stress our isolated grids in that same way. So, yes, we are working with all the communities, including the dieselgrid immunities as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm pretty charged up, thanks to the Minister. Great news. My statement also dealt with reprofiling of funds between programs offered by Arctic Energy Alliance. I'm not sure that all the ontheland evehicles fund is going to be subscribed so I'm hoping that the Minister's going to allow for funds to be switched around within the ebike or sorry, the eprogram.
So will the Minister ensure that funding within Arctic Energy Alliance for electrical vehicle rebates can be reprofiled to where the need is greatest? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent of this pilot program is to better understand what the demand for ebikes are across the Northwest Territories. So should the demand exceed the funding, we will look for ways to meet the demand from other programs for which are undersubscribed. So there's kind of a second yes in there, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member will be happy with that answer as well. Thank you.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I can feel the electricity in the air here; it's just great. So I see that the Yukon is offering ebike rebates up to $750 for a regular ebike and up to $1,500 for cargo bikes. At $10,000 for the NWT, that would be about 13 ebike or less. Can the Minister tell us what the individual rebate will be for the NWT and whether we will allow rebates for more than 13 ebikes? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to shock the Member but this rebate program will be delivered through our partners at Arctic Energy Alliance. We're working with them to finalize some of the program, the guidelines and details, including the amount of the rebate. We're not sure yet, but as soon as the program gets announced I'm sure we'll have some great news to share.
I also want to reiterate, Mr. Speaker, that this is a pilot program. I think I've said that in three of my answers standing up here, how important it is. We've heard from Members that this is something that the territories and residents wanted. This is something we looked at. You know, we also want to encourage people to be able to transition to less GHG intensive modes of transportation. This program will start April 1st. I'll have more details that I can share. And the information, once we gather, the program is launched with some adjustments if we have to move forward on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm going to get the Minister a ride on an ebike. You know, the Yukon is really ahead of us. They allow for retailers to offer rebates directly to customers and online purchases in the Yukon are also eligible, so and we have at least one retailer of ebikes in the NWT. But can the Minister tell us whether the NWT whether NWT retailers will be able to offer the rebate directly to customers and whether online purchases will be eligible for the NWT ebike rebate? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we are working on finalizing the program details with our friends over at Arctic Energy Alliance. I assured the Member we are looking into the potential for local retailers to be able to offer a rebate but no final decisions are made. I will keep the Member plugged in in terms of what we're doing as we know more. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
