Jackie Jacobson

Can the Minister tell me that the residents of other communities all across the Territory, such as Paulatuk... I mean, we had the same issues over the last few years and once they did try to claim, they went so fast and persistent in giving the same service into the communities. Can the Minister tell me the residents of communities that are able to participate in this program?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week I did a Member’s statement on the power disruption in Ulukhaktok and how people worked together to get through the problem. I heard on the radio last week, in Inuvik the power surge caused damage to people’s equipment, such as TVs, stereos, computers and other equipment.

There are probably not very many long-term Northerners who have not had equipment damaged in power surges, but you can only imagine my surprise when I heard the Power Corporation was paying compensation to the Inuvik residents for these damages. No one has ever made the offer to the residents...

Can the Minister provide some background on the compensation policy? When it was started, how many times it’s been used, what’s the cost? How much money is it going to cost the Power Corporation to provide all the purchasing of all this stuff in Inuvik?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am hoping this project does not get stalled, because of the 15 to 20 jobs for local hire for this project, where it is all tight work in our small communities. I just want to make sure that this is going to stabilize our power bills, because we have such high power bills in the communities, so it wouldn’t spike on our coldest months of the year.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reallocate the funds again from Tuk to one of the other Nunakput communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, other communities in Nunakput have consistent winds for this project. If it does not go ahead in Tuk, can we make sure that communities like Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok can go ahead with this wind program on their own under the same project?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to clear the air about the plan to build the wind farm in Tuktoyaktuk. I don’t want our community and the whole region of Nunakput to miss out on this opportunity because of misunderstandings.

The plan is to put three wind turbines to generate electricity and feed into our local grid. This will reduce the amount of diesel fuel that we burn, because the fuel costs will be going up in the long run. This will save money as well as give us cleaner power.

The Northwind 100 turbines are state of the art. They are designed to work in cold climates like ours. They’re...

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister reassure the Power Corporation that this wind program represents no significant cost and risk to the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Member’s statement today regarding the Tuk wind project in the community of Tuk, Mr. Speaker, it appears there’s a misunderstanding between the government and the community corporation on the deal to build the wind project in Tuktoyaktuk. Mr. Speaker, I’m wondering what is the Premier and the Minister doing to clear this up and can he help me to get clarity so this project can go forward. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, for example, with current technologies, communities all over the Northwest Territories, such as Sachs Harbour, could be a call centre. This government should take advantage of these technologies to assist in development of our community-based businesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Small communities all over this country are benefiting from a wide range of economic development opportunities due to advances in technology. For example, entering data for the Department of Health and Social Services, graphic design with ECE, and GIS work with ENR can be all done in the small, remote communities by Northerners.

Recently I received a response from the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, the Honourable Bob McLeod, committing to reviewing all of these opportunities in small, remote communities. Mr. Speaker, I challenge the Minister and the...