Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this opportunity to address you. I want to start by thanking the Member for Great Slave for bringing this forward.

The context within which he brings this forward is important. Climate change is happening throughout the world. It’s a global issue. We know what some of the costs are. We’re starting to have an idea of what some of the costs will be. We’re talking about loss of some of our wildlife species and fish, some of our reliable water sources and perhaps, most importantly, our climate. Our climate is becoming very unreliable and relatively extreme compared to what it has been.

There are also global impacts associated with climate change. The contribution of vehicles is probably the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. I think this is a good motion in that it starts us towards thinking about that and making wise choices when we purchase our vehicles.

I think we have a responsibility as a government to provide leadership on this and, certainly, to provide a stable and safe environment in the future. That’s uncertain at this point given climate change, although we have a small window of opportunity to address that.

I again regard this as a modest but very symbolic step in our work to address climate change. I want to recognize that this is put together by this Member as a step that would benefit all the people of the Northwest Territories. It would signal a new awareness and progressive approach to becoming responsible global citizens within the context of our own communities.