Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to give a 15-minute response, much to my Member's chagrin.

--Laughter

The Government of the Northwest Territories has participated with other provinces and the federal government to look at the issue of global warming. It is a major global concern. The Government of Canada has signed, along with 160 countries, in December of 1997, an agreement to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions in the world by a certain percentage within a few years. I believe it is a six percent reduction from 1990 levels by the year 2013.

We have made a commitment, the Canadian government has made a commitment, and we are now working with the federal government and the provinces to develop a process by which we will develop a strategy to try to reach that target. We are also doing some work to define the economic impact that such a strategy would have on our communities and our economy, as well, the cost of undertaking such a strategy.

Here in the territories, we have done a number of things. We, for instance, have continued to work to improve the energy efficiency of all our buildings or houses. We have set up an energy alliance using the Power Corporation, municipalities, the Government of the Northwest Territories and other stakeholders, to look at ways in which we could reduce the amount of energy consumption and increase the energy efficiency of our buildings and our programs. We have an energy conservation capital program, which has been in existence for a number of years, that is available for individuals, communities and organizations to apply for. They can ask for capital money where they can show that it will result in a reduction of energy consumption and where it will improve on the energy efficiency of particular buildings. This is open to the private sector as well as broader-based community organizations.

These are some of the initiatives; of course, we have the user-pay programs that the government has initiated where everyone, even tenants, as well as the government departments, have to be conscious of how they use their buildings, electricity and heating. User-pay makes us more conscious of how much we are consuming as clients within our own departments and buildings. Those are some of the examples I can give. Thank you.