Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to say a few words to this motion. Mr. Speaker, let me just start off by saying that I support the motion in principle. I am approving this as instruction to the government to look into this issue. But having read this, there are some boundaries and parameters that we need to ask the government to work on.
Mr. Speaker, we, as Canadians, live in a paradoxical location because while the environmental issues are such a hot issue right now and certainly an urgent issue for us to address, I think it's a very complicated issue for us because we live in a country that is mostly cold with far distances. It makes us probably use more energy than any other people in other parts of the world. I think in the North, that situation is even more intensified because we are colder than the rest of Canada and a lot of our communities are remote. By virtue of that, we do use up probably a lot more energy and produce a lot more greenhouse gases per person.
Mr. Speaker, I learned recently that a house that burns 4,500 litres of diesel fuel or fuel produces six tons of gas. I don't think my house uses up that much energy, but even at half of that I didn't realize I was producing that much energy by just living. I think this motion is in order for the government to act on something that would reduce the use of fuel and energy and to reduce the cost of that. There are certain things I think we should keep in mind. I am not certain right now how we can apply this. At $5,000, if everybody taps into this, we are looking at about 1,000 households. So I will be looking at the government to see how we can make sure this gets distributed between larger cities and smaller communities. Also, I will be looking to see how this would be divided between the house owners versus tenants. I will be looking to see how this is going to be administered, because I don't know how we can set up a program without having to have people run those. I don't know of any program that can run on its own.
Mr. Speaker, I must say I did take advantage of buying energy-efficient appliances and when you take it to the dump, they will give you a little certificate and they will give you some money back from Arctic Energy Alliance. I will be looking to see the details of the layout, I mean of how this program can be delivered.
Now I have a question also about wood pellets. I think a pellet stove is great. I think the North Slave Correctional Centre has something there that the government should spend a lot more attention to. I think that's actually not a government project and it's not owned by government. There was a boiler that was needed. This guy with the know-how came and we have to look at the supply of pellets. I would be looking to the government to look further into the potential of increased uses on pellets and other added sources.
We have a very interesting situation also, Mr. Speaker, in reviewing this energy issue, I am not even sure who the lead Minister in government is on this. We have the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, we have the Minister responsible for greenhouse gas, we have the Minister responsible for big industry who is also responsible for energy issues. I think it actually might help for Cabinet to sit around and see if they are going to roll out an energy plan, how they are going to work on coordinating that.
Mr. Speaker, it is true that at least half of greenhouse gases that are going to be produced over the next number of years will be from the major industries. That's another paradox of our country and our region, in that we want to save and we want to reduce the use of energy but we are the biggest beneficiaries of extracting resources and energy sources. If that is the case, that pipelines and the diamonds and all the big industries are going to be producing most greenhouse gas, obviously that's one area that the government has to look at. I support the industries, Mr. Speaker. I support development, but if we are really going to make an impact on how to use energy efficiently and how to reduce greenhouse gas, I think that's one area the government has to look at as well.
I do look around and I am surprised that the boiler that we have at the North Slave Correctional Centre, I don't think the government has really looked into how we can use this for other buildings. What I am saying is this motion is just a small part of the bigger picture that we need to work on. I have not seen the government working as comprehensively as possible, but I do look around and see it is so expensive to fuel houses and run vehicles, but I just don't know why we have such big houses and big vehicles.
I could see for the safety of roads, maybe vehicles, the bigger the better. But the houses? I don't want this
program to be an incentive to have bigger houses. I don't mean that, but not to have it means tested, I think that's something we want to review. I am going to approve it in principle. I would like the Minister to look at this possibility, look at the details of how this can be delivered/administered. I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, I do support it, but I am going to want to see the details about how this could be carried out.
On that note, I will conclude my statement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause