Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s a big overlap between my colleague from the Sahtu
and myself. So I’ll try not to go into too much detail here until we get to detail.
I guess in general terms I appreciated the Minister’s opening remarks and I thought he gave a good update on the Capital Asset Retrofit Fund, and the benefits of work done on that, and the future outlook for that program and the environmental benefits in terms of reduction and greenhouse gas emissions. Again, I see a very responsible department towing the line fiscally and I appreciate the effort there. I know that it takes a lot of effort. So kudos for that and I’m not used to seeing the Technology Service Centre funding requests so stable. So that must be a huge effort there and I appreciate that.
This department plays a big role in our communities, a really big role that is not necessarily written into their mandate. I just want to give that some profile, express some appreciation to the employees who actually fulfill those roles and anticipate, really, that there is that understanding at the executive level as well.
One example I can think of is there are many communities that simply do not have commercially available expertise if you want your furnace fixed or some issue like that. Frequently it’s the individuals from this department who play a huge capacity role in communities, both by sharing their expertise with those that are inclined to absorb it and enhance the community capacity that way and ultimately providing some pretty effective on-the-ground service when the situation requires it. I know that’s stepping out, I think, beyond their mandate.
In line with that, my colleague’s compliments on the apprenticeship positions and programs, which I wouldn’t mind hearing more about at some point, is also very much appreciated and a key part of our really practical community capacity building approach. I’m always particularly interested in terms of energy efficiency and oil burner mechanics. I don’t think we have enough of those in our communities. This is something that the Housing Corporation also does and I hope that there’s one or two or five of them in those positions as well.
This department has subscribed to a standard of 25 percent better than the National Energy Code for buildings. I think that’s now out of date. We need to go to 40 percent. Essentially all of the provinces have gone to that either for the entire province or for the northern parts of the provinces. It’s time for us to recognize that we can effectively benefit from going to a higher standard in the North.
I will be commenting on other aspects in the detail, petroleum products division and procurement policies and so on. But I think I’ll save those for the detail and leave it at that. Thank you.