Michael Miltenberger

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.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

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.

In regards to bargaining units, this is the one bargaining unit outside the UNW bargaining unit that is currently there for the remainder of employees, plus the NWTTA. Outside of that are the LHOs, which are a separate issue, but the Hay River Health Centre bargaining unit is the only one that is in existence. Thank you.

I just thank the Member for her comments and her rhetorical question.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Member will recognize, we have an aging workforce. We have a growing number of employees and the other one that we don’t have a control over is the growing number of referrals that are requiring medical travel. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.