Michael Miltenberger

As he talks about our modest efforts and what he sees as miniscule goals and targets, we do have a project, just one project that I’ll point to which is the Taltson Hydro Project that could reduce our overall greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent. We know we are already saving thousands of tonnes just with the work the government has done, let alone all the things that are going to come into play. We’ve committed to and we are going to start the process in April 2010 to renew the Greenhouse Gas Strategy with a full intent to have a final product by April 2011. It will speak to a lot of the...

In case I hadn’t mentioned it, we are committing $60 million to this initiative. We finished year one. We are moving into year two. We are committed to community energy plans. We are also working very closely with all the other strategies within government. We are looking at government itself doing a significant number of retrofits. We are growing the market with biomass, with our efforts, with the communities, within government retrofits, within the private sector. We’ve also started discussions and planning in terms of inventory to see what type of biomass industry could be sustainable and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me is Mr. Warren St. Germaine, comptroller general, Department of Finance. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I am here to present Bill 2, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2009-2010. This bill requests authority for the forgiveness of certain debts listed in the schedule of the act.

Pursuant to Section 25 of the Financial Administration Act, the forgiveness of a debt or obligation to the government exceeding $1,000 must receive Legislative Assembly approval.

When a debt is forgiven, no further collection action shall be pursued. The forgiveness of certain debts being proposed in this act will not require a new appropriation. Allowances for doubtful accounts were charged to an appropriation at the...

Once again, the Member and I are aiming for the same goal. I have been suggesting and saying right from the start that, yes, we have to do these broad strategies. Yes, we have to have that long and intense debate about targets, standards. In the meantime, we should be doing things on the ground and we shared the information with the Members about the dozens of initiatives that Public Works has taken in its mandate for retrofits. We are doing some very innovative things with ground source heat pumps. We have initiatives with wind, we are moving on the mini-hydro with Lutselk’e, in addition to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This whole initiative going into year two is a major undertaking. We recognize that the Biomass Strategy is at a high level and as we work through our various energy plans, as we review and redo our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, as we look at all the other components of our Energy Strategy, that the debate and decision-making that’s going to take place with regard to standards and targets is going to flow from that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Given the knowledge of the figures, the last serious effort to this was back in 2003-2004. Back then, the costs even then were considered excessive, given the money that was available, and have only increased since then. So we haven’t pursued this as an active initiative as of late. Thank you.

The two that are related, most directly related, are the aging workforce and the growing number of referrals. While we know we have an aging workforce, it’s hard to anticipate the amount of referrals. We tend to base our budget numbers on the previous year’s expenditures and the other thing as we go from budget year to budget year the number of employees we try to budget are based on actuals and not projections. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance; Charles Tolley, the director of the Management Board Secretariat.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, February 26, 2010, I will move that Bill 13, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2010-2011, be read for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, February 26, 2010, I will move that Bill 14, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures) No. 3, 2009-2010, be read for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, February 26, 2010, I will move that Bill 15, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2010-2011, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.