David Ramsay

Madam Chair, yes, and it’s this fiscal year, not next fiscal year. At the very earliest opportunity, I am sure, through MECC, we will bring the Energy Plan through committee, share it with committee sometime before the next session in May. We will get that there. We’ll have this discussion and I think it’s going to be a very good discussion. The plan is going to be multi-year. Obviously, some of the bigger projects would require large investments and be carried out over multiple years. There will obviously be some smaller things that could happen in the near term over one or two years.

This...

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. If the Member could just restate his question, I missed the first part of it.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The remaining $400,000 would be for medium- and long-term energy options for Inuvik at $100,000, a water monitoring program in Kakisa for $50,000, and the Whati T-line completion of regulatory application for $250,000.

Madam Chair, I really do appreciate the Member’s comments. I know I mentioned yesterday that, with the Great Slave Lake fishery, that is something that over the next two and a half years I think we need to put some real push behind. I have had meetings with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. We need to be working together with the industry, both in Hay River and here in Yellowknife. I really think we can make some progress here. It is a resource that is right here. It’s at our doorstep.

I know Mr. Bromley has been here for a number of years. We used to be taking a lot more fish out of...

It’s incorporated in the work that we’ve given to NTEC. That discussion on the power system here in the Northwest Territories, that dialogue continues through MECC. We’ve just recently met with officials from the Power Corporation. That discussion and dialogue continues. The planning continues and, yes, it is contained in the budget through NTEC.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We’ve heard many discussions in the House in regard to the traditional economy. We’ve got the Take a Kid Trapping Program. We’ve got the Western Harvesters Assistance Program. We have increased the trappers’ grubstake as well. In fact, we’ve doubled the funding available to trappers across the Northwest Territories. We continue to make great strides in the traditional economy in that area. We’ve got some great staff in the department. Our furs are recognized around the globe and we continue to make progress. Perhaps for some further detail I will go to Deputy Minister...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Member for his comments. They’re spot on. That’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve here. We’ve got the Hydro Strategy rolled up with the Energy Plan. We have to get those alternatives. We have to get that investment back. It’s through the planning that we’re going to get there. Like Mr. Bromley, I thank Mr. Dolynny for bringing these issues up. We will get there. I know it might seem like a long way away, but we are working toward these solutions and we will continue to work toward the solutions through the planning.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have been very flexible on how they use the funding and we will continue to be as flexible as we can be in working with them. We want to see an industry back there eventually. If there are some prospects with the Bluenose-East and those opportunities present themselves, we should be flexible. We should be working with the outfitters to see some business come back. The dialogue just has to continue. I mentioned earlier to MLA Bisaro that we could look at a joint meeting with ITI, ENR and the outfitters. We need to chart a course forward. We have to put everything on...

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank the Member for his comments. I certainly appreciate his take on things, but we are making progress. I’m convinced we are making some progress here. We’re getting close to the end of negotiations on devolution.

We continue to talk to industry at every opportunity about power from Taltson. We need transmission, we need a very sizeable investment in the transmission lines. I know there’s been a lot of talk about the interconnect on the grid north and south, and I believe that can happen with that type of investment and it should happen. I think that’s something...

Madam Chair, I’m certainly not a defeatist. I’m a real optimist, believe me. I always believe that we can get to where we need to go. But the fact of the matter remains. We put $1.8 million into supporting the outfitters. I will mention this, we also contributed $900,000 on this product diversification marketing, some of which accessed this funding to try to diversify their operations so they can get into different lines, not just caribou outfitting, but different lines of operations, whether it’s getting people out on environmental photo shoots or taking photos of wildlife. Some have looked...