Norman Yakeleya

I was going to mention that it’s something we could do a little with the Arctic Energy Alliance: sharing responsibility with the community and our own Power Corporation. There’s going to be lots of discussion.

Again, I appreciate the Minister’s response in terms of something we could look at. Would it be something they would consider down in the Mackenzie Valley within the next couple of months? These meters are out. They’ve been used in B.C. Can we start in some of the smaller communities up North to show that we are working with them, so people in the small communities can say, yes, we are...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister sent a letter to the Members indicating the process to go through this Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee in terms of how we’ll come to a discussion paper by next spring. The Minister has indicated that this will happen. I am grateful and I look forward to that; members of my region look forward to that.

I would like to ask in the short term, between now and springtime, what we can do to help our people. When we leave here, they are going to ask us what we’re doing to reduce the cost of energy. To share the power, can the Minister, through his committee, look at...

I look forward to the plans and to the reports in terms of the Assembly and the priorities on the initiatives. There are many initiatives set up by communities to own power. We are sharing the power, sharing responsibility with our communities — the same thing with the Power Corporation. Now it is the time to give that to the people, share the power with the people.

The question I have for the Minister in terms of this initiative is: would the Minister look at similar projects they did in Whati, where power information, educating the people in terms of how we best conserve, generate, save power...

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to welcome a constituent of mine who’s taking this valuable program for the people in the Sahtu: Ms. Dalphine Pierrot of Fort Good Hope, working in Norman Wells. I would also like to welcome Cecile Deneyoua, my sister-in-law.

Mr. Speaker, I’m very happy to hear that. The Minister made several references…. Certainly in the community of Délînê it was the same with our school. People said there was a school that was built on an underground waterbed creek. I’m looking forward to that type of information in terms of how traditional knowledge will be implemented into certain areas. Would this include education programs also in government-wide initiatives? Justice? Language? Housing? I guess I’m looking at the weight of traditional knowledge in today’s government. How strong would it be for the people in our region?

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and concerns traditional knowledge. Members have had some discussions in terms of traditional knowledge implementation by this government. I’d like to ask the Minister: could he update the people in the North and the people in Sahtu about the progress of traditional knowledge implementation in terms of the discussion we had in the previous government? How will traditional knowledge be implemented in my region in a government-wide approach?

Can the Minister advise people that with these smart meter readers there will be initiatives looked at in one of the regions in terms of implementing this project? I think that’s really something the people would appreciate in our communities in terms of being responsible and taking ownership of their use of power. I think that’s something we look forward to. Again, I would ask the Minister: can he do that as quickly as possible and within the time frame of the next couple months?

Mr. Speaker, the subsidy’s consumption level of 700 kilowatts hasn’t been changed since 1988. For the number of users that rely on this subsidy, more important are the months of November, December, January and February.

I’d ask the Minister of NTPC in terms of these subsidy rates…. Since it will be a while until we’re going to have some discussions on changing it, in the interim could the Minister tell me that the Power Corporation is looking at some initiatives and incentives for people in our communities down in the Mackenzie Valley in terms of putting in some meter-reading smart devices that...

Mr. Speaker, in terms of the issue of privatization and how we go about it, the mayor of Norman Wells has said: “Why don’t we sell the Power Corporation?” — in terms of having our own communities look after energy issues in our regions. Would that type of discussion happen with our Assembly, with our communities, as to how we best get energy issues on the table that would seem to help our people in our region in terms of privatization? I know it is a wide spectrum. What things could the Minister bring forward to this type of discussion with our region?

Mr. Speaker, in terms of this meeting with the aboriginal leadership, would we see a game plan within the life of this government on how we approach the federal government to start taking over some of the devolutions, start devolving some of the programs and services? Would we see, for the people of the Northwest Territories, that we do have a game plan — this government, the aboriginal governments and the other governments — in terms of taking over some of the ownership of this land, starting to remove the fingers of the federal government so we can proudly say, “Yes, this is what we did in...