Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. LNG is used specifically in Inuvik right now, as well all know. As we develop our 2030 Energy Strategy and our energy plan going forward, LNG is a significant part of that, to reduce our greenhouse house gas emissions. When we roll that out later this spring, we will see the opportunities that are available to residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, airports are an integral component of our northern transportation infrastructure. Air travel contributes to social cohesion by enabling relatives, families, and friends to stay connected. Air travel saves lives through our medevac system and facilitates business enterprises throughout our vast territory. Many communities rely on air travel to deliver essential goods.

The Department of Infrastructure is committed to working with public and private sector partners to continuously maintain and improve airport infrastructure and operations. Today, I am pleased to report that a number...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Energy Initiatives Report 2016-2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I have said, we are going to be tabling our 2030 energy strategy pretty soon, but that has the long-term vision, to 2030. We are going to be rolling out a three-year action plan for this session or this Assembly going forward so we have something to work on, which will be released this spring. In that action plan, we will have details, specific details, of the actions that we are going to take, the infrastructure money that is needed to accomplish this. We have six strategic objectives that we want to complete in that, but we are still negotiating our bilateral agreements, which this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our department, Infrastructure, we're working on our 2030 Energy Strategy, but it is linked specifically to the NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework. We are working together with us, ENR, and the Department of Finance to ensure consistency between all the strategies moving forward that are being developed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If it's through the CAP program, that's an application that's on a first-come-first-served basis, and I think the community of Aklavik has done very well on it. As for the longer federal infrastructure plan, we're going to be signing our bilateral year pretty soon, hopefully in the next month or so with the federal Minister, and those types of programs are still being worked out; but I think there are plenty of opportunities for communities within the new infrastructure funding that's coming to the Northwest Territories over the next 10 years.

I'd gladly sit down with the Member and the proponents of the Canadian Natural Gas Proposal, whatever their legal entity name is, and the people who want to discuss it, and look at opportunities for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As of late, when we are at the Mineral Roundup, that group was there and I had a chat with them, and they have sent me a proposal of how they see they can use the Cameron Hills LNG possibly in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I'd like to recognize Braden McCullough, a very good friend of my son's, who lives here in Yellowknife, and it's her first time here to the Assembly.

As the Member knows, we're in our budget process. To have a new park or something like that just doesn't slide into the budget just like that. At the minimum, at the very minimum, this project will need some planning, a consideration of costs, a project description, and these sorts of things. The Member is also, you know, asking the question if we will support that, and I gladly will support it moving forward, but he is going to have to get his constituency or people in his constituency to buy into this. I'd like to hear from them on what they have to say about it and have someone try this...