Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, the reality is, for all of us, communities included, we get hit with unanticipated events, be it extra costs for a dam or in Yellowknife, energy costs because of gas in Inuvik, pipeline breaks outside of Norman Wells that shuts off supply, the natural gas issue. We all collectively have to be prepared to do our part.

I am committing here today that we are prepared to do our part. We will work with the community, work through this process so that they are not in this alone. We demonstrated our commitment in Inuvik. We are going to demonstrate our commitment in Norman Wells. We are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to Norman Wells, we have assurances from Imperial Oil, and NTPC will still be able to operate on gas, which takes a huge pressure off of the community, unlike Inuvik where we have had to switch NTPC to full diesel to protect and extend the gas reserves for the citizens of Inuvik. We also have ongoing work with consultants, and folks at ENR are looking at other options in terms of the biomass, in terms of some people wanting to switch to diesel and looking at, with consultants, what would be the best plan and the most feasible alternative for when the day comes...

There’s no food subsidy program being contemplated other than we are peripherally involved in the existing Food Mail Program that is run by the federal government.

I would point out, as a Legislature and government we want to proceed and continue on with the Rural and Remote Communities committee which will provide a table for the MLAs from the small communities, like the Member himself, to gather around a table to have discussions about this business planning process that’s starting up for 2013-2014 in June. The benefit of having the committee gather and get mobilized would provide a venue to...

I will commit to take the Member’s request under advisement. I’ll report back and we’ll have a discussion in the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee to see how fast we can move on this.

There’s a lot of work that’s been done, but there’s more required, and as I indicated, there’s also some important related work like the Mineral Strategy and the Economic Development Strategy. So there are a lot of pieces at play here and that are linked. We want to move those along as quickly as we can, I agree with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s interest and comments about alternative energy and his interest in hydro.

I would point out that we have done a significant amount of retrofits, for example, and we are saving many hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is a lot of rice. It should be appreciated for the value that it brings. I know that the Member supports that approach.

In terms of the hydro project and in Taltson, we spent over the last probably two Assemblies about $13 million doing technical assessments both on the project at the Taltson site and the other piece was the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments about the committee letters. The responses have gone out. They should be available to Members. They went out this morning.

In regard to the recommendations coming out of committee, we’re also scheduled to meet with committee at the rise of the House on Monday to have further discussion about the detail.

I would point out that while we anticipate and are planning for $74 million surplus in 2012-13, the reality is we have debt of about $656 million. The majority of that, while it is self-liquidating, leaves us with about 240 to 260...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to thank the Member for his kind words about the budget and the work that we’ve all put into developing this, both MLAs, Cabinet and, of course, the people in government.

I want to reassure the Member that he talked about not abandoning the communities and don’t take back the funding and withdraw funding. In this budget there are no program cuts. We’ve reinvested and are continuing to support all the departments’ programs and services that we do provide.

As we talk about a climate of certainty economically, we, as well, agree and we want to, for many reasons, but...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have with me Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Finance.

Mr. Speaker, there are things that have happened in the past that have their own character and complexity and annex. The reality is, and I will say it again, the Government of the Northwest Territories is involved and will continue to be involved with the community of Norman Wells in looking at its long-term energy needs as we deal with the direction and indication from Imperial Oil that their access to gas is going to be cut off. That work is already underway.

The good news is, as I have indicated, we have assurances that NTPC will not be impacted in the near term and the work is underway with...

The Government of the Northwest Territories has been involved in this process, a party to the work that is underway. We have a commitment and an obligation, as we have assisted in the past in Inuvik when they converted from the high temperature system to natural gas, to work through the process with the community and to make sure that we are there to assist so that there is not an undue burden placed on individual citizens of Norman Wells. Thank you.