Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is good to hear that with the first department through the gate, that the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is going to be accountable.
I have a question about the energy strategy. I raised this in my general comments yesterday, and the Minister responded to the effect that while it is important, it should be something that was done later because you have other pressing issues on the table. I would like to raise the question again.
We had a briefing by the Energy Alliance, which I thought was very informative and enlightening for all of us. This is not a $30 million issue as the government initially indicated. It is worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of $230 million. That figure, I would submit, is growing as we speak with fuel prices going up.
There is a piece-meal effort being made that is un-coordinated, which is my concern. The four potential measures outlined by the Energy Alliance in their presentation were energy efficiency, energy supply options, Northwest Territories Greenhouse Gas Emissions Strategy, and a policy on regulatory framework.
Mr. Chairman, I want to make the point that the government has indicated they are doing the Energy Greenhouse Gas Strategy. I know the PUB is looking at the policy and regulatory framework of the Public Utilities Board. I know the Power Corporation is trying, in its own way, to deal with the energy issue as well. The government is struggling with petroleum products and the Housing Corporation, with its huge rising cost of utilities.
My concern is they are all going forward in an un-coordinated way. We are talking about a huge amount of money here. If we do not take the time now to set a process in place to come up with the board energy strategy that will link these pieces, we will end up in a month, two months or a year, with a host of initiatives that are not related, which no energy strategy will be able to link.
From a good business sense and practice, and for the good of the people in the Northwest Territories, we have to initiate this process. I would ask the Minister if he would be willing to commit to look at that. I think there is a role the Energy Alliance could play. Just about every deputy minister is on that particular board. It does not have to be done by the deputies or the government per se. They just have to get a process going that will report back.
I see this as a critical issue. The government is doing things in bits and pieces, but it is not linked. I would like the Minister to consider and respond whether he would be willing to look at this as a critical issue, considering the potential savings that are there and the rising costs we are currently faced with. Thank you.