Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to refer that question, with your indulgence, to Mr. Neudorf.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents entitled Supplementary Appropriation No. 1 (Operations Expenditures), 2009-2010; Supplementary Appropriation No. 2 (Infrastructure Expenditures), 2009-2010; and Supplementary Appropriation No. 4, 2008-2009. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. We appreciate the Member’s concern on behalf of his constituents. We have before us the single biggest capital plan for the Government of the Northwest Territories’ history. And while we recognize that it is large, there are going to be challenges and issues. We do recognize that there is a far greater list of needs than there are resources, but this will give us a very good start, as the Member indicated, and we will put all our efforts collectively into getting all delivered as soon possible. Thank you.

As we move as a government on our very ambitious alternative Energy Strategy on the area of biomass, very clearly one of the issues for us as a Legislature and a government is the pursuit of the secondary industry that would see us be able to manufacture wood pellets, set up communities and regions to be able to do the chipping or the pelletizing that may be necessary, to look at the employment opportunities, to work with communities as well to combine some of the value-added benefits of biomass with the concern in communities in the boreal forest to be better fireproofed when it comes to...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government has earmarked and this Assembly has approved a significant amount of money, for the first time ever, towards alternative energy, one of those sources being biomass. And, yes, we have on the books a pilot project that we’d like to look at. In Jean Marie, we’re looking at expanded waste recovery. We’re looking at wood pellets both in institutions and in communities. We want to move that plan forward. We’re waiting, with considerable interest, on the specific recommendations that the Member is going to bring forward with his colleague Mr. Bromley as a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me is Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance, and Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, the deputy secretary for the Financial Management Board. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present Supplementary Appropriation No. 1, 2009-2010 (Operation Expenditures). This document outlines an increase of $4.27 million in operations expenditures for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The major items in this supplementary are requesting two:

$3.6 million for the Department of Health and Social Services for the increased cost associated with a new contract between the Government of the Northwest Territories and NWT positions.

$485,000 for the Department of Transportation to continue research and development projects funded under the Building Canada...

There are plans to work with communities that are appropriate for residual heat. I know Fort McPherson -- the Member has raised the issue -- is one of the communities that there is an interest in commitment to looking at making sure the residual heat not only is working, but if there is a possibility for expansion to other buildings, we want to look at that as well. We want to leave no energy saving stone unturned here in our quest to get off fossil fuels or to be as efficient as we can.

Mr. Chairman, I will let Mr. Taggart respond to that.