Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are still working on what we see as some needed improvements to fracking practices. That work is still working its way through the process. We’ve received some feedback from committee and we’re looking at bringing forward revisions reflecting the changes that were recommended as well as the fact that we are now going to be our own regulator.

We’ve laid out the Land Use and Sustainability Framework, which is a broad framing document with some very critical principles. We have money that we’ve allocated through the Environmental Research Fund to start doing baseline...

Our attention has been focused on doing a whole host of things tied into promoting alternative energy. For example, we spent millions of dollars on our Biomass Strategy. We created a market. We’ve converted our own institutions to the tune of millions of dollars both in retrofits and in the savings. We are working hard to get our own biomass industry set up in the Northwest Territories. We spent millions encouraging people with rebates and subsidies to convert to alternate energy, biomass in particular. For example, the Power Corporation is going to be covering the whole Northwest Territories...

I would say that that’s a goal that has not yet been achieved.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have 29 fire crews, combination of contract and our own crews across the North, understandably all in the boreal forest area. So we do have a significant commitment in employing local folks in the regions and communities to fight fires. Oftentimes, if there’s a big fire season like there was last year in the Deh Cho, we import all the folks we can find from other regions. In some cases we even have to import them from outside the territory if we are really pressed, as we were last summer where there was a flare-up, as well, in the South Slave. We were hard at it...

We’ll provide what is currently there and what we see as required next steps. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In dealings with the federal government over the years on issues of statistics, the one thing that has always stuck in my mind when we’re trying to get accurate numbers is that we are such a small jurisdiction that they consider us, in many cases, statistically insignificant when it comes to determining national trends and numbers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s a gentleman named Mr. Applejohn.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, working with the boards, we will have authority to regulate the water.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2012-2013,” and “Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 4, 2013-2014.” Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Extensive work has been done on the stabilization fund, and as we move forward with the final budget of the 17th Legislative Assembly, as always, we are open to discussions, and in this case, yes, we would be happy to put that information on the table and engage in a discussion with the Members.