Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s interest and comments about alternative energy and his interest in hydro.
I would point out that we have done a significant amount of retrofits, for example, and we are saving many hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is a lot of rice. It should be appreciated for the value that it brings. I know that the Member supports that approach.
In terms of the hydro project and in Taltson, we spent over the last probably two Assemblies about $13 million doing technical assessments both on the project at the Taltson site and the other piece was the initial plan to put a transmission line up to East Arm straight to the diamond mines. That project did not go ahead. The technical work was all done, the geophysical work, the engineering work, all the environmental approvals were there to do the project.
Now we are revisiting the issues that the Member is wisely talking about, the benefit of linking the Taltson and the Snare grid, the ability to be able to power and provide energy to places like Avalon, Nechalacho, Thor Lake, the NICO mines. There are going to be some energy requirements at Giant. There is over $100 million heating market here in Yellowknife. There is also eventually a long-term benefit if we not only had those grid connections but a southern grid connection so that we could move power north and south. There is tremendous opportunity.
Minister Ramsay’s economic plan and his Mining Strategy are going to be contingent upon us being able to deal with that energy issue, so this is a big issue for the government, for this Legislature collectively to be looking at in the coming months. Thank you.