Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My written question is regarding assessing and managing conflicts of interest in the government. The Code of Conduct Respecting Conflict of Interest and Oath of Office and Secrecy for the Employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories formulates the ethics and values that public servants are expected to follow in their behaviour and describes the consequences of failure to observe the code. In light of the high number of activities Government of the Northwest Territories employees undertake in the voluntary sector, in their communities, in other governance...

Vision from 2020 was founded upon the goal of reducing imported fuels and greater utilization of local and renewable forms of energy. Can the Premier commit to developing a comprehensive biomass strategy that can be utilized by all departments, including NTPC?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do notice that former Premiers' photos are in the past energy reports, so my questions are for the Premier even though her photo is not in one yet. The Premier must be aware of the need to get a grip on the escalating cost of living in the territory. Has the Premier provided direction to Cabinet to come up with innovative ways for energy savings to curb the cost of living? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All my questions are all related to biomass strategy and not to liquid fuels. Electricity rates keep climbing every time the price of diesel goes up. I note the hydro dams and plants burn up a significant amount of diesel to operate. Can the Premier or Infrastructure Minister commit to having NTPC find innovative strategies to lowering their greenhouse gas emissions using biomass, and that, in turn, lowers the cost of electricity customers have to pay? Mahsi.

Some of the largest energy users of fossil fuels are the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, and Marine Transportation Services. Can the Premier commit to directing the departments to submit energy plans to guide the long-term development of secure, affordable, and sustainable energy for transportation, heat, and electricity?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Systemic racism is alive and well within our society. It may not be physically prevalent but does hide behind closed doors and closed minds. Systemic racism is an action that is common to a system such as racism in society. As Indigenous people, we face systemic racism on a daily basis. Just the colour of your skin, the fact that you have a treaty number, the community you live in, the crowd that you hang around with, the people who you represent as a leader, those contribute to the harsh realities of systemic racism. This can happen at schools, stores, hockey rinks, even...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I support the motion. For far too long, we've had lots of racist overtones happening to our people. It has currently been happening in my community for well over a year at a specific institution that I probably have mentioned many times in the House and within meetings, and it is still continuing to this day. I made a Member's statement on it, and I don't want to have to go through it all. Mr. Speaker, I do support the motion. Mahsi.

Good Lord, did I just waste my breath? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I just want to touch up on under facilities management. In the small communities, I know the outlying communities, like in Fort Providence and Fort Resolution, they have settlement maintainers. I know it's costing the department quite a bit of money every time one of heating boilers or whatever goes down in either Fort Resolution or Fort Providence. The operating engineers have to come from Hay River, and we don't know if they will come all hours of the night most times. I had brought this up when I was an employee in Infrastructure, but it has not gotten anywhere.

However...

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Contract services, that's not for any specialized services or anything, is it? What type of contract work does this entail? I think you may have answered that before; I'm not sure.