Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not an area that we have really developed in the last while. It isn’t really an area that the Government of Canada has done any work on. It is something that we certainly can take a look at, but, Mr. Speaker, we would need the assistance of the federal government to set a national standard. We certainly can engage in some discussion. Other than that, I would say it would be very challenging for us. Thank you.

Thanks, Minister, for those comments. This is a challenging request. It does not require federal participation. Federal participation would be great but, of course, three jurisdictions already have adopted it in Canada including B.C., one of our neighbours. We could certainly draw on them for experience here. I recognize that this Minister is well aware of climate change and working on it in other ways. I look forward to that meeting and the challenge that he has granted.

Moving further, we seem to be going clearly in the way of electric vehicles. We have passed a mutual unanimous motion on the development of the Mackenzie Highway and so on. The Minister stated the other day we are 7 percent annually increasing in transportation. We need to reduce our emissions. I wonder if the Minister could commit to figuring out how we could power electric vehicles or electric plug-ins up and down the Mackenzie Highway. The Minister is well aware this takes some time. Will he

commit to begin assessing how we can do that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that will be certainly a huge undertaking for us to accommodate the supply of power for electric vehicles. It is not an area for which we have done any type of research. I am not sure the department has that kind of capability at this point. I would be glad to undertake to work with the Energy Coordinating Committee to discuss this possibility. I would be pleased to provide a response to the Member. Thank you.

Again, these are challenging issues, but I think we are finding already the world is moving on very quickly. I think this government has also stated fairly plainly that it is going to be progressive on this issue. I don’t think it is actually as big a challenge once we start looking into it. We need some small hydro sources along the Mackenzie Highway that would probably reduce the cost of power as well. If so, once again, will the Minister look into what that is? I would be pleased to offer him my comments on that. Will he have his department and perhaps others look into that possibility? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware that this government has taken the approach to coordinate our efforts in energy conservation and projects of that nature through one committee. We in the Department of Transportation do not have additional resources to do the exploration or the research and review the options. I certainly can forward the request to the Energy Coordinating Committee to consider this and have them reply to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am well aware of those committees and opportunities out there. Of course, I am working on those as well. I welcome the Minister’s comments on this. Given that transportation is a big source of our emissions, we obviously need to reduce them. What other things is the Minister doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicular traffic in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have in the last while worked with a number of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the North. We have looked at our ferries and the engines and the types of engines that we use to power our ferries and work towards putting more energy-efficient motors in these boats. We are also looking at having a better energy management coordination throughout our department for our vehicles. We have looked at installing, and have installed,

heaters in our vehicles so we could reduce the idling time with our larger trucks and heavy equipment. So there are a number of things. We can certainly compile the list for the Member if he is very interested in it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance. I spoke in my Member’s statement about the need for this government to look at an equity position in large infrastructure projects. Like my colleague, Mr. Ramsay, I feel that this is an area where the government has been missing the boat, so to speak. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance whether or not he or the Cabinet has had discussions regarding taking an investment or an equity position in large infrastructure projects in the NWT. If yes, what is the nature of those discussions please? If not, why not? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We haven’t had any discussions about taking an equity position in any major projects mainly because of fiscal constraints we experience as a government trying to look at the needs to run programs, looking at our revenues, looking at our expenditures and try to keep things affordable with our relatively modest borrowing limit that is already almost half subscribed to. Thank you.

I don’t know if the Minister intended to segue right into my next question, but he did. There may be financial constraints but we certainly make an awful lot of contributions to any number of groups in the NWT, one of which is the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. I would like to know from the Minister whether or not there is a policy that exists that guides the GNWT when they make contributions to organizations such as the APG, to organizations who are involved in a resource development. Thank you.

We have contribution agreements. We have the accounting criteria that are followed when we make contributions to other organizations that should be met. Accountability issues then are expected to be complied with so that we can account for the money that we do spend as a government. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. I think I have to take his answer as a no, that there is no policy. Agreements, yes, and the need for accountability and criteria that guides those agreements, absolutely I agree. But that doesn’t tell me that it guides the government when they make these kinds of contributions. In my Member’s statement, at the end of the statement, I requested that the Minister discuss the idea of an equity policy with Cabinet and/or his department and I would hope that he would bring a recommendation forward to Regular Members for debate. I would like to ask the Minister if he is willing to do that. Thank you.

Am I willing to do that and will I do it are two different questions.

---Laughter

I will say yes to both of them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you to the Minister for both being willing and hopefully he is able. There are a lot of pros and cons to developing a policy of this sort. I fully acknowledge that up front, but I think that we should have that discussion. It should be an in-depth discussion. When does he think he might bring something back, a draft policy, even just a draft discussion document to Regular Members for consideration? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we should be able to put pen to paper on this within a month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on some questions from some of my colleagues on the different power reviews that are going on. I believe that there are some members of the public and members of the South who believe that a decision has already been made with respect to the sale of the Power Corporation to ATCO. I would like to ask the Premier, has Cabinet made a decision to sell the Power Corporation to ATCO? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ATCO proposal we have not made a final

decision on that. That is why we are undertaking the review. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.