Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd just like to thank the Member for his support of this initiative and I believe we all support these types of initiatives. But I think it's the public pressure that's out there now that we, as government and as people in northern Canada, that we have to set the bar high and show that we are doing things on our part to ensure that we deal with the greenhouse gas emissions and make sure that we cut down on our emissions. I think that this is definitely a way we can do it. If we have surplus power and diesel generators in communities, we should consider using that surplus that's basically going out the smokestack. So I think that the same thing applies in regard to the hydro stuff. Like you say, it's 10 megawatts of surplus power and I think that we have to definitely make use of that and that's why we're putting a proposal forward to do the conversions in Fort Smith at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just comments to the Minister on his opening statements. I'll make some general comments to his opening statements to the House here. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say to the Minister on this, several issues on this opening, on his presentation. The first one I want to talk about, the stabilization of Ehtseo Ayha School in Deline and that the school was worked on pretty quickly by staff members to get things ready within the time frame because of the closeness of opening up the school in

Deline and that I must commend the Minister and his staff for getting there real quick and causing a lot of relief for the families because of the school system and the way it's working. I'm not too sure on the timing of how the assessments are done on such a public institution that follows certain time frames of their opening of their buildings. However, Mr. Chairman, the department's responded fast and quite surprising to the people of Deline that they got in there, they did the work, and they caused a minor, minimum delay of opening the school system for that year. I just wanted to say it to the Minister because they did do good work there. So I must say that to him.

I guess my question would be to other facilities in my region and any other facilities in the North, are we, from that experience are we going to be feeling somewhat comfortable by the MLAs that some of these institutions such as the school would be looked at in terms of this type of program? So I was only going to comment that somewhere in the books I guess the Minister will maybe or he could hand me some information if he wants to, to show me a plan for the wood piling remediation program for such situations as this one here.

The other one I want to talk to the Minister is on the biomass heating system in the North Slave Correctional Facility. I think it's a leading-edge project going ahead and I would like to see something like that in, of course, our region in terms of some facilities that are run by the Department of Public Works and Services and maybe on a smaller scale. I'm not too sure. I certainly would like to take a look at that system more closely in the North Slave Correctional Facility and that I think there's great opportunities in the North for a system like that in other regions that would help with the cost of living and cost of doing business in smaller remote communities. So I just wanted to commend the Minister, I guess, on that one too, for that initiative and cost-saving measure. I'd like to take outside of the larger centres now to see how these type of programs like the North Slave Correctional Facility, how do you put that into smaller communities and work them into the smaller centres like ours in the Sahtu?

The other point I want to make is the infrared thermal scan of GNWT buildings and community buildings. That's a good one again, too. I'm not too sure where that's going now. Once you've done the buildings, you looked at it and said, okay. So it costs you this much to fix the building or whatever they have to do, where does the community go after that? Does the Public Works lead the communities into a direction where they can help themselves or help their buildings or help the private businesses such as the band or the Metis or the town office to fix up the buildings?

Good things in those areas are my comments to the Member, to the Minister. Sorry, Mr. Chairman; to the Minister.

Mr. Chairman, my last comment would be a general comment on the quality of community drinking water and the department's working closely with the three identified departments of Health and Social Services, Municipal and Community Affairs, and Environment and Natural Resources. Again, I bring this up on behalf of my community and that community is Fort Good Hope as I talked about the issue of dead water. I'm not too sure what type of issues are being looked at in terms of satisfying the community there to say they have good quality water, yet I have several elders from that community that keep reminding me that we should look at the dead water issue and see something to be done to satisfy them. Public Works is looking at that and I'm not too sure where they are with the other departments in terms of having that water issue resolved with the community of Fort Good Hope and look at types of solutions that could satisfy the elders in the community that would leave them with a level of comfort that the water is of good quality. Right now I'm going to just wait until the Minister gets to those pages in his budget to talk about that.

So I'll leave those comments to the Minister, Mr. Chairman.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Next on the list for general comments I have Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank the Minister and the officials for being before us today. I'm just going to bring up one area and it's not so much a question as more of a statement of approval. Whereas on page 2 we talk about the biomass heating system at the North Slave Correctional Centre and, like other Members, I'm fully in support of this project. I'm a big fan of this and since energy prices really started to take on momentum a few years ago, I have learned quite a bit about alternative systems for heating buildings and houses, et cetera. I've come across from burning old oil to burning wood to wood pellets to garbage, and I've learned a lot about it over the, like I say, last couple years.

I would like to encourage the department, although they may have been asked in one way or another, but I'd like to encourage the department to make all findings available to the public. Therefore, anyone in the public industry who owns apartment buildings, large garages, et cetera, whatever the case may be, may be in a position to potentially access this information so they can build a bit of a case study under their own economics and say is there cheaper and smarter ways of doing things? This speaks to the emission changes as well as, of course, the economics when we talk about heating buildings through using regular home heating fuel or whatever the case may be. So smart energy, I'm a huge fan of that. I'm a huge fan of practical solutions like what we're doing now. As I understand it, our infrastructure costs are negligible in the sense of getting the product there to do the work. We're buying the heat, the raw heat. And you know what? Maybe we're opening up a new type of market through northern innovation, which I'm proud to see happening here.

With all of that said, Mr. Chairman, I don't have a specific question, although the Minister may want to comment on my thought about ensuring that all of this information can be made public. Therefore, like I say, maybe a large industry or someone in the hotel or apartment building business may want to examine this type of strategy. I think it's a good thing and the more people we can buy into this type of process, potentially we can make the pellets cheaper, we can make things easier for everyone. Technology can probably be cheaper and easier to use. So that being said, Mr. Chairman, that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Next on the list for general comments I have Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the Minister and staff for coming out today. I just have a few general comments in regard to the Minister's opening remarks. I appreciate the process for the Wood Pile Remediation Program. But I'd like to go one bit further. Hopefully the Minister will take it into consideration, anyway, with the department. I understand, you know, that we do have buildings still on wood piles, but I'll give you an example in one of my communities where the Department of Public Works and Services had units before and then they were sold or given to the local hamlet. They were eventually sold off to private individuals. So those are the type of units that may need assistance somewhere down the road. I don't know if your department will assist these private homeowners if required. Because at one time they did belong to government. I can provide that information to the Minister and the department, you know, somewhere down the road in terms of which units I'm talking about in Tuktoyaktuk anyway. Because I think, you know, you talk about liability earlier under the GED report. So I think it's important for consideration to be given to some of these people that bought these units that once belonged to government.

It's good to see that also, Mr. Chairman, that they'll do infrared thermal scanning on GNWT and community buildings, but I'd also like to see that maybe once they get that unit in place I hope that they can assist the private homeowners that can utilize the services. Whether it's within a reasonable cost or they can do that as a service to the homeowners so that they can find better efficient ways of maintaining their units, I think that will help a lot of local people if they can do that.

I'd like to, Mr. Chairman, also reply in regard to the community drinking water that the Minister talked about. I understand he's working with the different departments. MACA is responsible for the infrastructure, but also DPW oversees the programs that they're operating in the communities. Unfortunately, but I hope I haven't heard back from Sachs Harbour yet, but it's an example. They've been having an ongoing problem over there last year and, you know, that's really part of basically been going to each other and saying we've done something and we sort of, they were sort of going back and forth and saying we've done this, we've done that. I think it's really important that we work closely in terms of any projects that both MACA and DPW have. I'm sure that, especially the one water plant in Sachs Harbour, I'm sure it's gone way over what the cost was originally costed at. So I think it's got to be, you know, we have to look at things like that.

Mr. Chairman, the last comment I'd like to make is in regard to the petroleum products. You know, Mr. Chairman, unfortunately in Tuktoyaktuk, about three or four years ago it was privatized. It worked fairly well at the beginning. But eventually the person that got the contract, I guess after the contract expired, quit selling gasoline to the local community, so the Northern Store took on that responsibility. At present, though, it's good to know that the contractor in Tuk is still providing diesel heating fuel for the community, but again I think it's important that the department should really look at these kind of issues that might come up further down the road. We're fortunate that Northern Store in Tuk eventually took that gas station service. The costs are within reason with the previous contractor, but again, you know, it's these kind of things that in small communities when you privatize to make sure that they'll be there for a long time, the long term. Not to go in there and then just because it's costing them too much they go somewhere else.

Mr. Chairman, these are just some of my general comments and I thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Pokiak. Next on the list for general comments I have Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to offer a few general comments. First off, I just want to take this opportunity to put it on record that when a Member or myself especially raises questions about contracting process, I don't mean in any way to diminish or underestimate or undervalue the importance of the sound contracting process, and we do not want to see any safety or quality issues compromised. I just want to make sure that my concerns, if I bring them up, are based on fairness and openness of the process. So I just want to leave it at that.

The second thing I do want to say is on the TSC issue. I'm not saying that just because a person who is in charge is here, but I do want to commend the department for a real good job that was done in rolling that program out. I don't know; I haven't seen a survey on anything...maybe I did see some on what the people feel about how the new, the network program we have, I think I may have seen some and I think the ratio was quite high. But as for me, personally as a user and someone who has been in and out of the government system for at least 21 years when a long time ago we didn't even have an e-mail. I think we had to get into HP system to see. Only some people had access to e-mail. Then for a long time before this new program rolled out, really it was not practical or useful to access government e-mail because you couldn't open most of the documents. For people like us or many people out there who are travelling or they are in different regions or different parts of the country on business, or even if you wanted to access your e-mail at work, it really is helping a lot.

So obviously it's a real improvement on the program, but I think the credit has to be given to how it was rolled out, because I think there was a lot of prep work done to prepare all the users on how it's going to be done and who was going to get it first. So I think we are always quick to note on what doesn't get done right and focus on the problem areas, but I have always...I remember going through a lot of briefings with the previous Minister on this initiative and I really thought that it was carried out really well, so I do want to commend the department and the staff and the Minister who are involved with that.

There was just one more issue that I wanted to comment on and I think it's something that I've mentioned already in question period today, and that has to do with this exciting new project. That's another thing. Often, I think, I'm never shy for pointing out problem areas and the shortfalls that the government has to address, but sometimes I don't think government does even enough to sell what they do good and what they do well, and I have actually pointed out things to other Ministers about some of the things that the government is doing that they should spend more time talking about, and that project I think is what's going on at the North Slave Correctional Centre and that pellet boiler system. I remember watching that and thinking how come we didn't know anything about that? Our Standing Committee on Social Programs oversees the work of

Justice, but maybe that was briefed in DPW. But I do want to just state for the record again that I think that's a very exciting project. I think we should be proud of the fact that that is the first one in North America as a test case, but it's something that is very suitable to us because we are so far away from the source of fuel and diesel distribution systems. We do have a capacity to have a sawmill operation, so maybe years down the road we could be involved in manufacturing those pellets. I don't mean that we should all go out and change our major heating systems to pellets instantly, but the GNWT is one of the biggest builders of the Territories. I would like to see the government really focus on the next major project, whether it's a school or government building or something, to really work to incorporate this option in part of the plan to see if we can expand the use of that and gradually, if it turns out successful, make this as a viable option to our heating system. I don't know all the details of this operation and I'd like to get more detail on that. But from what I saw and heard, I really do see a lot of downside and I'd like to encourage the Minister to...(inaudible)...that. Those are my general comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. No other speakers on the list for general comments, so I'll direct...The questions will come up, Mr. Minister, through the detail, but if you wish to comment briefly on the concerns that were raised, I'll allow you to do that. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to the issue regarding the piling agreement...(inaudible)...I think if we're in a community, I think we're able to work with the community governments.

Also a question that was asked by Calvin in regard to the facilities that were sold to individuals which use the government facilities. I believe there is a program within the Housing Corporation for such an initiative. But again, we are doing these surveys. We're identifying those communities. I think we can also include those facilities as part of our planning process.

But in regards to the Deline school, we are going to be going in there this summer to complete that project. Also, there's the question about the ramp facility. That will also be as part of the contract to have that also concluded this summer.

In regards to the drinking water that we're involved in, again, it does include other agencies, but again it's to make sure we have the capacity not only within our departments, but also within the communities to ensure that those facilities are up and running and we do have the trained, qualified operators in those communities with the training that they do require in order to maintain and operate. I think that's one of our biggest challenges.

Again, with the situation with regards to the biomass, that heat system, it is a partnership that we've been involved with. We partnered with a company in regards to Arctic Green Energy. Basically all we are is they came in, they set the facility up, they pay for the pellets, they pay to operate it and all we do is purchase the heat off the facility. But again, it's something that we are opening to partnering with other companies and new technologies that are out there, and I think we are open to that and I think this shows that with the project we've done in regard to the corrections facility. I think that does show we can work with the private sector to build on that.

In regards to the TSC, we are doing a review I believe next month with a bunch of client departments to see exactly what they think of the service and exactly how we can improve, and also so we can get feedback from them. So there's a major review that's taking place in the next month.

So those are some of the comments back in regards to the questions that were asked, but we will get more detail once we get into the budget. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Committee, I'll direct you to page 5-7, that's the operations expenditure summary which we'll defer to the end and we'll actually start the detail on page 5-10, and that's the revenue summary. Is committee agreed?

Thank you, committee. Page 5-13, activity summary, directorate, operations expenditure summary, $7.341 million. Mr. Yakeleya.

The question I have here is for the programs that are being delivered in our community in terms of DPW process of gathering information. I want to ask the Minister, Mr. Chairman, in terms of how they assess it. I know they go through a very complex system and when they put a program into a service or upgrading a service in our communities up in our region that great care is taken and consideration is given due to the distance away from larger centres such as Yellowknife and Hay River. The accessibility to our communities is sometimes challenging because we have limited barging system and limited road system, and if we don't catch those two systems we have to fly certain materials and supplies in and sometimes our region loses out on such opportunities because of the way the structure was set up. No fault to anybody. I guess I'm just asking that the Minister, Mr. Chairman, has some flexibility in terms of providing some flexibility to some of our local communities. Sometimes there's bad weather for weeks and there are so many people working in the department, sometimes the chain of command doesn't quite...Sometimes they misinterpret. Even the best communication gets misinterpreted sometimes. So it's just for those type of delays that our region is taking and given some extra consideration when they're working with our region that there's some fairness and consideration given to some of our projects that have to be done in our region. I want to ask that question, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in all cases, most of the work that we do is put out by way of public tenders, or else we do have a sole-source contract arrangement with, say, a local operator in specific communities. Those are put out by way of requests for proposal. We do try every way to inform individuals that tenders are coming out, when they're coming out, and offer people in those communities the opportunity to bid on those contracts. Again, it's a question about capacity issues. In some cases, the expertise may not be there so we may have to go outside to major regional centres or even farther south to find that

expertise. In some cases, we do have a situation like we had in Deline in regards to the school where it was an emergency, so we had to react to it quick so we had to get people in, get the job done and make sure the children were safe and back in school. So we do have those situations, but the majority of time those contracts are tendered through our tendering process and also try to give as much opportunity for local people to bid on those projects and also retain the work in those communities. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, I agree with the Minister in terms of some of this work. Sometimes it's very specialized and you need to get people from outside that may have the capacity to do it in our region. I agree with him; that's the case that you have to go in that area. I guess what I'm asking is some consideration when they have certain capacity and capability in our communities or our region that it's being looked at in that sense. I want to certainly support our local business in our communities.

In our region there's no all-season roads. We are somewhat isolated in our region, so we're somewhat, Mr. Chair, at a disadvantage from other communities that have all-season roads going into the communities where they can easily get the materials by vehicles, and those communities that have to be serviced by barges or by aircraft are sometimes at a disadvantage. I want to ask the department if they would give some consideration, do some assessment of what can get done and look at some of those factors, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, we definitely will take the Member's question as notice. But I think we do have processes we do follow in regards to negotiated contracting guidelines. We also ensure that we do have a process. In most cases we have to work with the local agency or hamlet council or the education boards and whatnot to look at facilities like the school or health centre. In those cases, the communities are involved all the way through the process, so I think it's important that we build on that.

Again, if there are capacity issues that we have to deal with, we do try to work with communities to formulate that amongst themselves who have the capacity, but also try to give the community enough time to go out and find that expertise so that they can work with them to take on some of these projects. So again, we'll definitely look into this. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, again I agree with the Minister in terms of there is a process already established by this government and a process established by the Department of Public Works and Services, and I certainly want to support the Minister and this government to adhere by this process. There is some flexibility that the Minister has looked, he said he will consider within our region. I can give you some examples; however, I just don't want to do it because there's no need to. I think the Minister has given me some assurance that he'll look at and I take it that he'll do that for me and for the people I represent in the Sahtu region. So I'm going to leave it at that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.