Bob Bromley

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. I know I have seen lots of individual projects where it was sometimes 30 or 40 years return, so I recognize the department has been doing some of that because of some other significant gains.

Would it be possible to get the same sort of information, essentially the 30 percent on heat demand, for our power demand? What is our proportion of power load that is met through renewable energy of whatever source, hydro, thermal and so on? That would be great. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do have some general comments and I will base them on the Minister’s introductory remarks so it will be easy, hopefully, to follow along.

I do appreciate the work that the department does in the area of culture and heritage, and I’m particularly pleased that our staff have managed to negotiate the $1 million-plus revenue from Nunavut to help with the storage costs for Nunavut-based artifacts. Those are important artifacts. They need to be stored properly and there is a real cost, so I appreciate the department figuring out how to get those covered.

I also appreciate...

That’s good. Obviously, I disagree with waiting for that. There are many, many examples – the Minister is familiar with them – where the GNWT plays a key role in establishing a new practice in a community in all kinds of areas, and that enables that community to enjoy and spread the benefits. I think we should be doing that here as well.

I guess I’m wondering, what has been the trend? In opening comments we heard a lot about the reductions in greenhouse gas, 25,000 tonnes I believe it was, and so on, savings in dollars and fossil fuel. Would the Minister have at hand, or could he provide what...

I think that’s it. I will look forward to that information, and I will be prepared to ask questions on the Environmental Liabilities Fund when the Department of Finance comes up.

Thank you for that information. I recognize that this division and department are really our hope for energy issues, and it’s very, very important work that they do. If I can drill down on that, so that means that, I believe we say as a government, our residents, any building has to meet the National Energy Building Code, and I believe I’m hearing from the deputy minister that right now there are no new energy standards for those buildings. We choose to go for the highest calibre within GNWT buildings, but in terms of other buildings that businesses or residents build, they don’t have that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

The attached Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, AANDC, map for the Giant Mine Remediation Project shows the location of underground arsenic chambers and project drill holes. The attached GNWT Department of Transportation map, “Proposed Ingraham Trail Realignment,” shows the route of the road realignment.

What is the purpose of the realignment and what issues or concerns is the highway being realigned to address?

How was the road alignment route chosen so as not to interfere with the...

I certainly can confirm that I have constituents who have had a number of issues. I’ve brought them forward and I, generally, am satisfied that they are being taken seriously and efforts are being taken to address them with possibly the exception of the overly specific requirements, which I still have not reached satisfaction yet. I guess we don’t know when the comptroller’s review is going to be done, and maybe I’ll save that for Finance.

In terms of the Green Procurement Policy, if I can make a little leap and then I’ll try and bring these two together. Trust me. I mean, I’m looking for the...

Thank you. A strange kind of priority when we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on other projects and dragging this out over the decades. Because this is an operating and jam-packed hospital, carrying out the renovation during hospital hours will be difficult.

Does the Minister anticipate any extraordinary costs resulting from having to refer patients to southern institutions when wards, operating theatres, clinics, diagnostic and other facilities are closed for renovation? Mahsi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think we’re getting some nice crunchy comments here. Thanks to the Minister for the opening statement here.

We recently took over utilities for all government infrastructure, and I didn’t hear anything on what the real opportunities and efficiencies are that we’re realizing here, locating problems where utilities are clearly over what they should be and so on, reducing costs, so what have we learned on that front.

The $8 million on operations and capital expenditure to deal with our maintenance deficit; somehow that’s magic. We’re only spending $8 million and suddenly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions to the Minister of Finance on the Stanton Hospital. We put tens of millions of dollars into a Fort Smith hospital and a Hay River hospital, and now, when we should finally be going after the long overdue Stanton Territorial facility, what are we doing? We’re building new highways on the most costly terrain known, paying off poorly-thought-out bridge infrastructure and pursuing other new and expensive projects.

I’d like a clear commitment from the Minister that this fall’s capital budget will contain a proposal...