If something were to happen, it may be a reality. The fact is we have looked at our areas where we have direct responsibility. In fact, when there was an issue about some shortages in the higher parts of the territory last year, the Department of Public Works and Services looked at routes Over the Top to look at resupply from other areas to ensure there was no shortage in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Executive Council, as well as the Legislative Assembly Act, covers a number of areas. The Executive piece is following work that was done by previous governments and put into place, in fact, to kick in with this the 16th Legislative Assembly.

The work was done prior to this Assembly. It came into effect, and in fact, this tabling of this information is the first time we are putting it forward for information for the public.

I thought that the Cabinet actually made decisions on policies reflecting Ministers’ benefits. Anyway, moving on from there, I got the answer I thought was going to hear. I still don’t really know what the answer is. I don’t want to waste all four questions on the same topic, so moving on.

The capital living allowance for members of the Executive Council, I have no problem with that. Members are expected to live here on a full time basis, and that certainly requires a certain level of comfort and an amount of space. No problem. Home travel is absolutely reasonable. Members have got to go back to their constituencies when they serve on the Executive Council. But there are a few other benefits in here which I think are a little bit unusual. Cabinet Ministers are allowed to accrue sick leave and vacation leaves. I’d like to ask the Premier: what is the policy of this Executive Council with respect to actually paying people out for those benefits?

Mr. Speaker, we follow the same pattern as employees would have for annual leave, for example. Sick leave, though, is different. You can accrue that, but there is no payout at any time for that piece. Annual leave, there is payout for that, as there has been in previous Assemblies.

Certainly it did exist in previous Assemblies. Just to note the difference, though, Regular Members do not accrue vacation leave, and we certainly don’t get paid out for it at the end of our term, but Cabinet Ministers do.

Mr. Speaker, also under the Ministerial Benefits Policy there is something called an entertainment allowance. It is a non-accountable $1,500 annual allowance for duty related entertainment expenses. I would like to ask the Premier: is that over and above the already existing approximately $1,000 a month that Members receive? So they would get the Members’ $1,000 non-accountable plus the Cabinet Ministers’ $1,500 non-accountable expense for entertainment?

Mr. Speaker, maybe I should take a better look at my Members’ portion of benefits. The ministerial piece is $1,500 for the year, and it covers other expenses that Members who are Ministers would incur in their duties, whether it is in the capital or when they are travelling, to cover off some of the additional costs that one would run across.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

I was wanting to know if it is over and above what Regular Members receive. I have to assume that it is, that the $1,500 is separate and for ministerial entertainment, as opposed to MLA expenses in that area.

Mr. Speaker, these questions went all too quickly, but do Ministers also have access to the departmental budget, credit cards, allowances for such things as entertainment?

Mr. Speaker, if a Minister — I’ll use ENR as an example — deals with a department issue and has a group of individuals or a conference, the department would pick up those costs on that side of it. The ministerial piece would be if the Minister himself were to meet with Members, for example, or Ministers from other jurisdictions on other related matters. But if a Minister is specifically meeting and that has been set up to deal with the department or deal with counterparts across the country on files within the department, the department would cover those costs.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement on the Energy Priorities Framework by asking the Minister who is the lead for energy about why transportation was completely missed out here. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every decade subsidizing highways, highway transport, and costs are continuing to soar. Greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to increase. What are we doing outside the box? Why aren’t we thinking outside the box, trying to lower our costs, coming up with low intensity greenhouse gas emission ways of transport and some long term solutions? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I guess I’ll go to Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of initiatives underway that deal with the issue of energy initiatives and also mitigating climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gas strategy that is being developed by the government would be looking at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We all know that transportation is probably, as the Member indicated, the largest sector in terms of producing greenhouse gas emissions, so that is the area we would be looking at.

I’m afraid I cannot thank the Minister for that; I didn’t hear an answer there. Clearly, this is a source of greenhouse gas emissions. We are talking energy issues here. This is probably the biggest single source of increasing the cost of living; let’s put it that way. What are we doing to come up with new ways of transportation that do not require hundreds of millions of dollars of investment every decade in highways and so on and that can actually reduce our costs? What are we doing outside the box that is creative and is actually going to decrease our costs and emissions from transportation?

Mr. Speaker, we do have the ecoTrust. That was the program whereby we provided incentives to NWT residents to reduce their costs. In this case we were providing incentives to people who were purchasing vehicles that were fuel efficient, and certainly that is one area where we are helping people. The Energy Priorities document, we sent it out for discussion. We are seeking input from the general public, and certainly if it is seen as a gap, we would look at it. I should point out to the Member that with the ecoTrust program and energy conservation, our focus has shifted more to energy conservation within the home. That is where we are looking at providing most of our incentives.

Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Minister for those comments. I don’t want to detract from the Energy Priorities Framework, because I think there is some very good stuff here. I think the Minister has pointed at the home environment and buildings. There are some very good things happening there. But as he has pointed out, transportation is the biggest source of many of our problems with our cost of living. So I’m hoping that some real outside the box thinking can be done there, some fundamental solutions.

One of the things I found missing was the development of local expertise on implementing some of these energy solutions that are a bit new. Perhaps the Minister could comment on what sorts of programs we will get going to make sure that communities have access to expertise for putting up solar hot water heaters or what have you. So I will just leave it at that and let the Minister use his imagination to come up with his ideas.

Mr. Speaker, that is an area…. We’re at a disadvantage. There are shortages, but we have been working with the Arctic Energy Alliance, which has been providing a significant number of programs to fill that gap. As part of our energy priorities this is an area we want to look at. As well, we will be working with the municipalities and the NWT Association of Communities so we can find ways to provide that expertise. Certainly through some of the federal programs there are a number of initiatives that could assist.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister for those comments. In the area of natural gas to communities for energy supplies, I’m wondering if the Minister would commit to giving serious effort to working with communities to come up with some sort of ultimate solutions rather than these interim fossil fuel solutions that could prove to be very expensive — leapfrogging, as many communities are choosing to do, to a renewable energy source — or at least giving that some thought and investigation.

Making natural gas available for communities is an area that we’ve been pursuing for some time now. Right when we first heard about oil and gas coming back to the Northwest Territories and people talking about pipelines, we commissioned studies to look at the potential for conversion to natural gas. Through the environmental assessment process we’ve indicated the need for the pipeline to provide for outtake so that we can convert communities along the pipeline right-of-way to natural gas. This is something we’re interested in. Plus we’ve updated our studies that were done approximately six years ago, so we have more current information.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. A final short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for the comments on that. I realize that they are narrowly economic, but I think we have many more win-win situations we could find here.

My final question is on the Power Corporation. Would the Minister commit to leading this government and doing a comprehensive and thorough review of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, their work on the energy front, the possibility of restructuring and so on, to address many of the fundamental issues that we hear so much about from our constituents?