Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This issue was touched on a bit yesterday with some of the questions in the House and it’s on our list that we’ve been working our way through and we’re not there yet.

We recognize the need, the same as we had this discussion with Mr. Hawkins on things like shredders for tires and vehicles. Mr. Yakeleya raised the issue of cleaning up all the old vehicles that are scattered across the North and it’s a question of time, resources and capacity. Just this rollout of the electronic waste issue, for example, has taken a considerable amount of time to get operational.

So we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It’s all accounted through the variance process. There’s ability to move money between activities in a department, so the money is always all accounted for at year-end. Some cases, like in capital, will have carry-overs. I will ask the deputy if he wants to add anything further on that particular issue. Thank you.

In follow up on our discussion in the Committee of the Whole yesterday, yes.

The majority of caribou herds are under pressure not only in the Northwest Territories but we’ve seen that to the east, as well, with the George River and Leaf River herds and some of the herds farther to the west. The one herd that has been doing well, the Porcupine, they have the benefit of, I think, a very, very good management plan that took about seven years to agree to. They think the Bluenose-East plan is going to hopefully hit that standard as well. The Bathurst Management Plan is still somewhere in the future. Unfortunately, the complex area, unsettled claims combined with some...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. The impact on the borrowing limit at the time was considered along with what would be the longer term cost if we shut the project down and didn’t start it up again or try to start it up later in the season or lose half of a building season. It was determined that it would make far more sense for us to advance the money, keep the project going, keep the 400 people or 500 people employed, and have that benefit up in the Beaufort-Delta plus keep the project on target and on time.

At the time as well, that predated what we knew later to be the worst fire season in our...

Thank you. I appreciate the Member’s suggestion and I’ll have a discussion with the department about how that would fit in. We’re only a couple of months away from fire season. It might be something that takes a little more time than that. It might get flagged for a transition issue with the government, but we’ll take a look at the Member’s suggestion and his comments will have a great bearing on the outcome. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m familiar with the letter. As the Member indicated, it’s from last November. The letter is somewhat dated. There has been a lot of water under the bridge on that particular issue. The deputy minister has been personally handling a lot of the work and discussions on the Bluenose-East, the issue of the allocation and the discussion with the boards and the communities, so I would ask the deputy just to give a quick update of the circumstance that would address those seven issues which have been, as I indicated, I think, overtaken by some other events.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, that’s the intent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have had a change to that five kilowatt. The Power Corp has gone to the Public Utilities Board to eliminate the standby charge for solar photovoltaic systems over five kilowatts in size, allowing the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to proceed with up to 75 kilowatts of solar installations in five diesel communities over the next two years.

One of the other things that’s happened, as it was announced earlier in the House, we’ve consolidated our energy functions now into Public Works and Services, and they’re now going to be looking after those types of...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’ll flag this issue for discussions with ITI to make sure it’s clear as we look at this. As the weather conditions and drought continues and the extreme events happen there are going to be hard choices to be made when people choose to live great distances away from fire protection. As the deputy said, we do our absolute best to be there for all the people, but as the number of people living outside of community boundaries proliferates, it’s going to be more and more problematic, but it’s an issue that we will flag at the lodge level with ITI.