Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So further to my Member's statement for today, I wanted to ask questions of the Minister of energy, strategic infrastructure, and supply chains, in no particular order.
First, does the Minister see benefit in establishing a more centralized team of support staff within infrastructure to provide more coordinated, targeted support across government operations when it comes to biomass systems and the local operators and maintainers that are trying to keep them working? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a fairly long list of folks that are being named, and this is likely one where there's strategic energy initiatives that reside with me and yet management of our facilities with, of course, Minister for Infrastructure and may well involve some work from MACA with respect to what's happening at a community level. So I'd certainly like to say that if it's a question of simply coordinating or ensuring that the right people are talking to each other that that's probably pretty easy to do. So let me take that back, Mr. Speaker, if there's something simple that needs to get done, that the right people know where to find the right people. I am confident that we can do that without having to bring about a lot more resources to these departments. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I am happy to have a huddle with the Minister or speak about that in more detail later, but. What support is available from infrastructure to help communities do feasibility analysis if they want to establish local wood harvesting and chipping operations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my first point of call would be to Arctic Energy Alliance who I know have struggled somewhat in the last couple years when we all saw a reduction in a fairly significant program from the federal government that's now been renewed for the next four years with even a little more than what we had before. So there is going to be more funding available through Arctic Energy Alliance. Whether it will necessarily suit the needs of communities in the way the Member's suggesting, I am not sure. I would suggest perhaps this is an occasion where I'd like to be able to provide a more thorough response or a written response just to make sure that we capture any available funding that is -- that we know of both within our government but also if there is an opportunity to point to funds existing with the federal government. I can say that the Tlicho government has certainly been leading in this respect, and I think they've sought some funds from the federal government. And I suppose the one that -- one last thing that comes to mind, Mr. Speaker, there is specifically a biomass program with some funding proposed in these main estimates. So there's a number of things; perhaps we'll put that in writing, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And just to note, we did hear from Arctic Energy Alliance this morning that, in fact, they do work with communities in terms of analyzing buildings and putting in sort of boilers but not so much on feasibility analysis around supplying or producing that energy, so that's a new opportunity. So and on that note, can the Minister tell us what additional support could be provided to Arctic Energy Alliance on specifically expanding trainings for biomass operators and maintainers at the local level? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I think I will be more succinct and just say this is a good opportunity for us to provide this response in writing. There are training opportunities through ITI, ECE, perhaps through MACA, NWTAC, and, again, I won't have all of those at my fingertips here, and I want to do my best to make sure we provide that information. It's important, and there are opportunities available in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
