Mr. Speaker, they just wanted to know over here if I had any more questions, if the Minister is reading my mind here. Anyhow, I’m going to try this one here, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise the House and the good people of the Northwest Territories in terms of the type of arrangement that he’s going to be working with the federal government in seeing what he can do in terms of making some special arrangements with the Labour Market Development Agreement to include all students that would be equally treated across the Northwest Territories in terms of this valuable program that is used in our small communities.

Certainly, to meet the needs of the great people of the North, I think we are achieving that goal with this new agreement that we are finalizing with the federal government. It’s similar to the EI recipients but, I guess, on the opposite side we’re going to look at the individuals that do not qualify for EI as part of the recipients and also income support clientele; those individuals that do fall through the cracks. We’re going to be focusing on those individuals and it’s a new program so we’re anxiously waiting to roll that out once it’s signed. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise the House and the great people of the Northwest Territories in terms of when does he expect this agreement to be finalized, to sign off, so

that the people out there can certainly be fully aware of when these types of benefits are going to start going to our communities?

Mr. Speaker, certainly, that’s been addressed with Cabinet today, this morning, and has been forwarded for me to negotiate with the federal government to sign off. The plan is to roll out the program in July. That’s the plan right now, so we’re pretty much looking forward to that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister must be reading my mind. I think he’s one month ahead of me in terms of when the final plan will be rolling out. I thank the Cabinet and the Minister for this good news here. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister if there are any other sources of funding that could help the local summer students hiring; funding out there they could make aware to the agencies in the communities in terms of hiring new summer students?

Mr. Speaker, within Education, Culture and Employment we do have various programs, whether it be through income security or agencies in the community, because we do have offices in the regions, as well. But I can certainly provide that information to the Members, as well, just to highlight what kind of programs we have available for summer students. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation explained to us how opportunities for biomass use will be considered as part of the review of the NWT Power Corporation. Today I outlined the disappointing progress that has been made since 1998 when the government-of-the-day stated its best intentions for taking advantage of waste heat recovery. I have also told the House how European models of biomass use are being driven forward by the setting of clear targets for increasing renewable energy use and decreasing greenhouse gas outputs.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear whether the Minister will commit to including as part of the NCPC review the setting of required levels of renewable energy use as part of NCPC’s future capital planning processes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of heat recovery and making best use of our facilities has, in fact, been looked at and worked at since 1983. In fact, there was an agreement signed by the NCPC-of-the-day and the Government of the Northwest Territories to use recovery heat. Unfortunately, that wasn’t expanded on. It was the government’s responsibility to do the hook-up, maintenance and so, which caused some problems with our high temps. That aside, I must agree there’s been a lack of progress in that area for quite a number of years. We have now, part of our Energy Coordinating Committee, looking at a number of initiatives around our energy use and energy plan. That would be the area we would start looking at policy and how we would change things. Not necessarily the Power Corp review and its operations. We as a shareholder would set that mandate and, in fact, the Ministers on that committee are going to be looking at those scenarios of how we would incorporate some of these policies and potentials. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there’s often some frustration on this side of the House when Minister’s anticipate our words but don’t actually listen to what we’re saying. So I will repeat this question and just mention that perhaps this Minister was reading my mind and answered my second question. But my question, literally, I’ll translate exactly here, I’ll read it again, verbatim: Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear whether the Minister will commit to including as part of the NCPC review, the setting of required levels of renewable energy use as part of NCPC’s future capital planning processes. Thank you.

I’ll be a little clearer so the Member can understand. The fact that we are, in a bigger scale, looking at the whole process and having a policy and initiatives to direct, be it the Power Corp, be it a partnership, be it whoever, to implement some of these changes, if we feel that is the process, we will look at directing the Power Corp, as a shareholder, to make the necessary investments in light of the changes. It is through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee where we’re looking at quite a number of initiatives around biomass to make some of these changes happen. The Power Corp review itself, we’ve got a process to look at its operations. The generation is a type of generation, how we deal with capital and so on we’ll work into the first piece of our reviews, as I spoke to yesterday, but, more importantly, the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee will be looking at these initiatives and looking at possible changes to policy and direction in that nature. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The trip cost in the neighbourhood of $54,000 and about $20,000 or thereabouts was attributed to the use of a consultant to do the groundwork, organize the trip and use their contacts and do all the paper logistical work. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the total cost of the trip for this group of people to go over there, the fact finding mission on behalf of our government, was $54,000 and let’s say more like $24,000 was spent on a consultant who I guess had some contacts or some information. Has that consultant filed a report with this government yet for the $24,000 contract he had? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there is a report being done by the folks that we wanted to get the information from, which is Members Bromley and Krutko. The consultant has offered to compile his trip notes for us. The key report that we are looking for, though, is the best advice for the Members opposite that we believe are going to help set the policy base and direction for the development of biomass for the next generation across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, so we paid a consultant $24,000 to provide trip notes but we expect the Members on this side of the House to develop the report. That doesn’t sound like very good value for money. What interesting credentials does this consultant have that we did not have in house through folks who have experience and knowledge in the area of biomass right here who

work for us in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the trip was good value for money. We wanted to get people from the Northwest Territories and elected officials along with some of our staff on the ground firsthand to take a look at what was being provided, what kind of technologies, what systems are in place, how long they have used it and how things are working. I don’t have the list of credentials of the consultant but I will commit to get that information. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are in tough economic times and for $24,000 I want more than trip notes from this individual. I will ask the Minister: Will he table in this House the CV, the resume of this person that was contracted for $24,000, and his report which should be a very professional report for that price? Will he table those two documents in this House? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, the expectation from the consultant was trip notes. Key reports that have come from the Members that were on the trip is the one that is the working document that we are looking for. I will share that information. Thank you.