Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Funds currently flowed to community governments on the New Deal have no conditions to ensure new buildings meet the necessary energy efficiency standards that we have in the NWT for the GNWT.
Communities are expected to complete community energy plans, but without a stipulation for meeting those requirements and frequently resulting in substandard energy efficiency building practices.
My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I understand we currently recommend that communities adopt our standards, but we don’t require it. Given that we do transfer under the New Deal considerable dollars, and appropriately so, for infrastructure to community governments, can we at least in the short term, until that is actually fixed, require that buildings developed by them meet GNWT energy standards?