Ronald Bonnetrouge

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. The cost of living in the Northwest Territories keeps rising year in and year out. Every time the cost of diesel goes up, so does the power bill, skyrocketing costs of groceries, cost to repair appliances, cars, trucks, and all-terrain vehicles.

Mr. Speaker, our message for staycations will come at a cost. There's a document from the 17th Legislative Assembly entitled "A Vision For Energy In The Northwest Territories which states, "There's a great deal of consensus across the Northwest Territories on the need to reduce our high costs of energy and the impacts of our energy...

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.

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.

Mahsi. Mahsi for that. The other one I'm looking at is inspection services. We've got $1.6 million. What type of inspection services are these? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I am looking under the line item, compliance and licensing. That is a $3-million price tag. Can you explain what this line item entails? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I have gone past what's there. I was asking a question. How serious are we, as the GNWT government, to look at harnessing biomass energy for the Northwest Territories moving forward to get rid of the greenhouse gas emissions? Like I say, we spend a considerable amount of financial resources buying fuels, paying for fuels. Are we going to get serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Where do we have a line item within infrastructure for energy and strategic initiatives, energy department, that shows research and development, and are we going to be serious and start...