Mr. Speaker, over the last few days, the future of energy and the approach of the Government of the Northwest Territories to energy in the Northwest Territories has been explored, deliberated and discussed at length.

The 2014 Northwest Territories Energy Charrette has generated a great deal of interest throughout our territory and beyond. Over 120 people participated in the entire charrette and there were many more who attended the public discussion held on Monday, November 3rd .

We had representatives from communities and Aboriginal governments from every region of the territory and attracted experts in the field of

renewable and sustainable energy from across Canada and even as far away as Germany.

The focus of discussions was on what we can do today to address the high energy costs that contribute to our cost of living and the approach we need to take to ensure we have sustainable energy systems in the long term.

I would like to emphasize that there was a strong project focus to these discussions. This is why the Government of the Northwest Territories invited Mr. Axel Lambion from Germany, whose company specializes in biomass energy systems. Lambion Energy Solutions has been operating for 100 years and has developed over 3,000 projects across the world. Other participants, such as Marlo Raynolds from BluEarth Energy and Anouk Kendall from Decentralized Energy Canada, provided their perspectives and experience with regard to renewable energy projects on the ground today. These include projects that could be built in the short term, including solar, biomass and combined heat and power systems.

I would like to thank all Members of the Legislative Assembly who participated in these discussions. I would also like to acknowledge Minister Miltenberger for his efforts to ensure this charrette was a success and his commitment to change our approach to energy in the short term to ensure communities have access to affordable and sustainable energy systems in the long term.

Mr. Speaker, there will be outcomes from the 2014 Energy Charrette. A report on the charrette discussions will be released within a month. The government will circulate the report widely and ask for additional input and include residents who expressed an interest but were unable to attend the charrette.

The government will then look at developing a response to the charrette report that could include changes to the current Energy Plan early next year. We would like to work with all Members of the Legislative Assembly on this initiative and will be following up through the standing committee process to further engage Members in the discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.