Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Public Works and Services. Today I am following up on my Member’s statement.

The Energy Charrette held three months ago released its report a month and a half ago. One of its key findings was the urgent need for an energy efficiency act for the Northwest Territories. Getting this act in place needs to be a priority for us.

Will the Minister please confirm to the House that such an act is indeed being worked on by his officials for adoption during the life of this Assembly? Mahsi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Minister’s response and will look forward to him leading that debate on leaving fossil fuels in the ground and also sort of explaining to me – I’m just looking for the common sense here – about how we’re struggling so hard to get our relatively modest energy demands into renewable energy away from fossil fuels while we’re pushing to develop fossil fuels as fast as we can to feed whole nations and generate greenhouse gas emissions that are off the charts compared to the per capita consumption here. So I would appreciate that and I’ll look forward to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister’s response is entirely unacceptable. This has been raised repeatedly, and now through our expensive Energy Charrette – yet another one – it has been raised as the answer to a lot of our issues and providing benefits including addressing the cost of living.

How often does this need to be done? Now we’re sloughing it off again. The Minister is giving responses like need to discuss, we’ll try and discuss, don’t know what the timing would be like.

For goodness sake, this is long overdue. Long overdue. Lots of other jurisdictions in Canada have done this. It has...

I didn’t hear that the Minister was going to put this act in place.

Again, the charrette was very clear in its view that the energy efficiency act would be a cornerstone towards a secure energy future, economic sustainability, environmental responsibility and, most importantly, reducing the cost of living. To now leave this important work for some review later on in the 18th Assembly would make a bad track record even worse.

Will the Minister commit to bringing this act forward for adoption during the life of this Assembly?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the most important recommendations to come out of the last Energy Charrette was the need for the creation of an NWT energy efficiency act. Some of us have pushed for this throughout our term but have been sloughed off by costly ministerial statements like, “I believe communities know what needs to be done.”

Getting this act in place needs to be a priority for this government. Given the dollars that go to energy costs and the effect energy production has on the cost of living and environment, it’s unbelievable that we don’t have one already. Leaving this for the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to correct an impression that I apparently perplexed both the Minister and the Premier with. I have been commenting that the science shows we cannot pursue the exploitation of our fossil fuel reserves in the Northwest Territories as a cornerstone of an economic development strategy. Both this Minister and the Premier are, unintentionally I am sure, misconstruing this comment to say that I want a faster shift to renewable energy. I think we all want a faster shift to renewable energy but that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying we cannot build our economy on...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Welcome to the Minister and his guests.

I’ll just start by saying I appreciated the budget as the Minister laid it out. I thought it was a reasonably good budget as far as it went. It was certainly a good budget speech, although we might want to think about how to present in additional engaging ways and response. But there was much that was unsaid as well. I don’t expect the Minister to be able to cover everything. But I want to acknowledge that it was a very frank and honest budget, acknowledging fully many of our challenges. The unsustainable nature of our current...

Thanks to the Premier. That’s exactly why I’m bringing this up, although it’s extreme. The science is recognizing that we are dealing with an extreme situation and the government is thinking about these things, so it’s an opportunity. The regional expectations are great. Hopes and dreams are based on fossil fuels. I know this sort of thing will be very disappointing to them, but on the positive, renewable energy development is much more labour intensive, much more equitable in spreading the benefits around and produces a much more durable economy.

Does the Premier agree with that and is he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions to the Premier. It’s kind of a wild idea, obviously, given the direction we’re headed and so many jurisdictions around the world are.

Is the Premier and his Cabinet familiar with the science suggesting that 80 percent of the fossil fuels known reserves must stay in the ground if we are to avoid dangerous climate change and also the most recent publications in Nature that deal with those areas and types of resources that can be tapped into and still avoid that condition? Thank you.

They must also know that we must turn to renewable energy-based development in order to minimize the destruction and begin to build a sustainable future. On behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, what will it take to reverse this participation in the insane march to destruction and shift to a truly beneficial and progressive renewable energy-based economy?

As the great Canadian Ms. Naomi Klein says, “It’s time to stop digging poisons from the deep and shift with all speed to powering our lives from the abundant energies on our planet’s surface.” Residents of the North call upon our...