This is page numbers 183 to 200 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was programs.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, the Minister Responsible for the Housing Corporation has run his plan by Members. It’s done within existing resources. As well as, again, areas that we would target for reduction would have to go through the evaluation to see if in fact they would impact on strategic initiatives. That work is yet to be done.

We are looking at the practice of hiring, what positions need to be filled. The message has been sent to the deputies to have a good look at what initiatives they are looking at and what areas they are targeting for savings. And we need to have that and take that into consideration as they go to fill certain positions.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, in light of all the reductions — potential reductions, I should stress — that are being put forward to your office, in the direction of the strategy that you are putting forward, are we getting real suggestions? Are we going through an exercise? Is this government being fed stuff that is unpalatable? Because if we are not getting buy-in from our senior, senior management, Mr. Speaker, then I would certainly be willing to lend the Premier a copy of my Sun Tzu Art of War, where you are supposed to lop off the head of a general if they don’t listen to the message being delivered. That will certainly put the system back in order.

Is the Premier looking at this very hard so we put forward good, real suggestions and it doesn’t cause a crumbling of our system?

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Mr. Speaker, in meeting with the deputies when we initially gave them direction, I did say that as an Assembly, and number one as Premier, I would be held accountable for the actions that we are presenting. Members of this Assembly, as well, would be held accountable for what would be accepted by this Assembly. At the same time, that measurement and accountability would be held to our senior staff for what they presented or did not present. So that is part of the work that is going on and part of the evaluation to see what is being put forward.

As with every exercise in the short time frame that we are given to try to come up with results, there is some good information, which the Members talked

about: for example, vacancies. Through this exercise we would become aware of what vacancies are out there. That would be an easy area to look at, with no direct impact on individuals. So that type of information will be useful as we begin to put that plan together.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, my questions are again for the Premier. It gets back to access to information on the Deh Cho Bridge project.

I want to talk a bit about the concession agreement itself. That is the master agreement, and I mentioned this in my statement earlier. It addresses the development, the design, the construction, the operations, the maintenance and the management of this bridge project. It is a $160 million bridge project, Mr. Speaker.

I think the government should provide that level of information on an agreement of that magnitude to the Members of this House. The last Premier had promised to come back to Members of this House with that information. That never happened. And again, here we are, four months into the life of this government, and we haven’t seen the agreement. Mr. Speaker, I mentioned it earlier: we may have to subpoena the government. The House will subpoena the government to get a copy of that concession agreement.

I would like to ask the Premier if and when he will get us a copy of this concession agreement that is proving so elusive.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

For those who are listening here, the threat of a subpoena is not what is going to initiate something. The fact is that I have already committed to Members in a meeting that I would be working the appropriate departments to get the right information so Members could have that information. When I worked with the Department of Transportation, I did commit to making that available to Members. As well, the chair of the committee has written a letter to myself, and we are getting the package ready to present.

So let’s get over the theatrics here. We are working to try to work together, and we will be open and accountable to this Assembly. That is the way we want to operate in the 16th Legislative Assembly.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t take on this job to be in the theatre business; I took this job on to represent my constituents, to represent the public first here in the Northwest Territories, and I take my job very seriously. I would like to again ask the Premier: will the concession agreement in its entirety be part of the package that he is going to present to the Regular Members of this House?

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

As information was given or shared from previous governments with Members who have returned, as well as what I’d committed to Members in our discussions, as it’s available, we’ll present that. I don’t know if it will be in its entirety, but we will provide what we can under the practice we have with cabinet and committee information. We’ll be able to provide that to Members.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

I’d like to know when that might happen. I mean, we’ve been waiting now four months since this government was in office. It’s been four months since this agreement was signed. When will we get to see what’s in it?

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

We should be able to do something within the next few days. I just made that commitment with them within the last couple of weeks. So we’re putting that information together and responding. The letter I received from committee was dated the 28th of January — that’s

receiving it on my desk. So we’re pulling that information together and getting it back in as timely a manner as possible.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

In follow-up to Mr. Bromley’s Member’s statement and questions, I daresay this government spends tremendous amounts of money on energy, on power, on fuel. We often hear horror stories about things like government vehicles running all day long in cold weather, and maybe a few of us have even seen that with our own eyes.

The other issue is government buildings. We own a lot of buildings. Right now the government has a policy whereby the private sector can get an energy audit done on a building with the assistance of the government. I’d like to ask — I don’t know if it’s the Premier; maybe it’s the Minister of Public Works I should be asking — how many of our government buildings have had energy audits conducted on them that indicated measures could be taken to conserve energy?

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

The answer to the question is that 180 buildings have been scanned to date for investigation on excessive heat loss, and 139 of those are government buildings.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

How are we progressing on addressing the information that was obtained on the 139 government buildings393399 that have been scanned? We have the information. Now what are we doing about it?

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

As we move forward on developing new buildings and designing new buildings, we will be looking at using energy conservation issues as a guide. We have also embarked on looking at alternative sources of heat. The biggest one is the biomass, or the pellet stove,

or pellet furnaces, boilers, those things. We have most of our new facilities, our new buildings, especially the schools in N’dilo, Gamètì and Tulita, being designed in that manner, and also the school in Inuvik and Good Hope. So most of our new buildings are being designed with energy efficiency in mind. We’re also looking at some of the guidelines set out by our government and other governments that we are using as a guide.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

That’s great for the buildings that are going forward, that we’re constructing or adding to our inventory. But what about the 139 buildings that already have had energy audits or have been scanned and have come up, I’m sure, with a number of area recommendations where we could take measures that would reduce the energy consumption in those buildings? Where’s the program related to those remedies?

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

As we move forward, we have to take into consideration sometimes the deferred maintenance on these facilities. We have to take into account the number of projects that are in mid-life mode, that have to be retrofitted. As we identify revenues or develop our budget, we will be looking to accommodate the energy efficiency as we retrofit a building or upgrade.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

In other words, there is no plan. That’s what I’m hearing. There is no organized plan of response to the information that would be obtained through an energy audit.

Let me ask just another question. Energy consumption has to do with where people set the thermostat in those buildings and where they find their comfort level in those buildings. Is there any policy within the G.N.W.T. that would preclude people from using as much energy as they would like when it comes to the heating of a building?

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

All our departments across the government follow our Energy Conservation Action Plan, and we in this department have given direction to our staff and to other departments that this is a priority of this government. We also have listed our buildings in terms of a priority one, two and three for an action plan to be developed.

Of course, the Members well know we don’t have a budget approved at this point; however, as we move forward and develop one and target the investment areas, we can provide that information to all the Members.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Time for oral questions has expired.

Item 9, written questions. Mr. Bromley.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

My questions are on G.N.W.T. expenditure on energy, and my questions are for the Minister Responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat.

1) What was the total amount spent by the

G.N.W.T. and its boards and agencies on fuel oil, gasoline and electricity for each of the last three fiscal years?

2) What was the amount spent by the G.N.W.T.

on tank farms and other infrastructure related to fossil fuels in each of the last three fiscal years?

3) What were the additional expenditures by the

G.N.W.T. on transport of fossil fuels in each of the last three fiscal years?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Item 10, returns to written questions. Item 11, replies to opening address. Item 12, petitions. Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

I have here a petition to deal with a buffalo problem in Fort Liard, signed by 140 residents.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents.

Tabling of Documents
Tabling of Documents

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

I wish to table the following document entitled Evolution of the N.W.T. Fiscal Framework, 2004–2008.

Document 2-16(2), Evolution of the N.W.T.

Fiscal Framework, 2004-2008, tabled.

Tabling of Documents
Tabling of Documents

February 6th, 2008

Tim Mercer Clerk Of The House

I would like to table a response to a petition provided by the Hon. Jackson Lafferty, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, in response to a petition tabled by Mr. David Krutko on November 27, 2007, on the matter of public housing costs in Fort McPherson.

Document 3-16(2), Response to Petition 2-

16(1): Public Housing Costs in Fort McPherson, tabled.