Shane Thompson

Thank you. Can the Minister expand on that occupational health and safety position? Is that allocated in a regional centre, or is that a headquarter position that looks after the territory? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I was talking about the LNG proposal, and yesterday, as well, so I do have some questions for the Minister for Infrastructure. Again, it's kind of all over the place, so: can the Minister please provide the House with an update on how much the GNWT subsidizes our power rates? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, again, I thank the Minister for that information. My last question: when the government looks at an alternative energy source, does the government have a backup fund in place in case something goes wrong with the future energy costs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for all that information. It's great to see that we are doing stuff like that, but how does this compare to our past five years? Can the Minister please advise the House of that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I spoke about the proposed shovelready LNG pilot project. I would like to follow up today to talk about what I see as the direct benefits of this proposal.

Mr. Speaker, by looking at this pilot project and using the NWT gas, there would be a justification of recommissioning the Cameron Hills gas field located within the Northwest Territories that has currently been shut in and is not producing. By doing this, it means more royalties and taxes on natural gas produced and processed within the NWT.

This proposal could reduce the government's...

I appreciate the Minister's answer. My next question: in the past 10 years, how much has the GNWT had to subsidize to address low water rates affecting hydroelectric production on top of the subsidies for power rates due to unforeseen diesel fuel increases?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Premier for that answer. I greatly appreciate that we are looking at it after the first year and seeing how it works, because I, too, would hate to see a gap in an organization that does a lot of good work across the territories from what I have seen and heard from the people there. This is a very positive step, and I would like to thank the department for that.

My next question, though, again, is about the non-government organization stabilization fund. It is in the Department of MACA. The reason I am asking this is because, I believe, in the January 17th...

Just to clarify, since the other side there says we approved it, so what we are saying is we can approve next year's budget already. Can we get that clarified? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank Mr. Hagen. The staff in the region in Fort Simpson do a great job for Nahendeh. They do a really great job. I am just trying to get a better understanding of exactly what the process is, because I have had a number of people approach me with this. I thank Mr. Hagen for that. Now I have a clear understanding of what direction we need to go, and we can move forward on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking on page 126, and it's the NWT Friendship Centre. As I said in my reply to the budget, this is a very positive step by the department to help an organization that has a huge impact on a number of communities. I notice there is $250,000 in there. Is this something that the department is going to look at as an ongoing basis, or is this a one-time budget line? Thank you, Mr. Chair.