Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had no discussions with anybody about this conference, other than the Member e-mailing me a press release advising of this change. I expect that in due course the money, or some portion of the money that we contributed for the oil and gas conference would probably be earmarked for a similar conference in 2016. Thank you.

Thank you. Outside of monetary commitments for investments and looking forward to this conference, I know that the government also seconds GNWT workers for organizations that also do work on behalf of government. By the time 2016 rolls around and this conference comes out, there’s a good chance we’ll have two, maybe even three charrettes by then and we’ll have a lot of GNWT employees who have a really good grasp of some of these areas in terms of alternative energy, where we’re going to invest.

Would the Premier be looking at putting in some type of recommendation in the transition reports to ensure that we have GNWT employees who are suited for this type of work possibly seconded to help assist with this conference? Thank you.

Thank you. The Member recognizes that there’s an election between now and June of 2016, but as a matter of course, we want to make sure that these types of conferences are successful. They provide for a lot of development and bringing investment into the community. By all means, we would do whatever we could to support it so it would be successful. Thank you.

In the press release, it mentioned that the Town of Inuvik is going to start preparing to have a very successful conference and trade show. In terms of any reports that do come out of the Energy Charrette that we had previous and this Energy Charrette, will the Premier ensure that the mayor and council as well as the staff that are focusing on this conference be on the distribution list or will they be able to get a copy of the report so that they can see where the government is going and possibly focus their conference on the same wavelength? Thank you.

I believe the mayor of Inuvik is part of the Energy Charrette, and by all means, the outcomes of the Energy Charrette will be in the public domain. So, they certainly will be available to the organizers of the Inuvik Arctic Energy and Alternative Technologies Show. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On May 12, 2011, the Finance Minister in Committee of the Whole stated, “We’ve been working diligently on a P3 policy for government. That policy has been to committee. We have had extensive feedback. We have what we think is a workable P3 policy.” According to public records on that same day, a Public-Private Partnership Policy No. 15.02 was born and on that same day the Minister also reassured the House, “I can assure the Member that the P3 policy, once in its place, will be followed by government and there’s a built-in full engagement of committees as well.” My questions today are for the Minister of Finance.

We have today what is referred to as non-statutory P3 related policy and not legislation. Real P3 legislation, which at times is referenced by the Minister as very prevalent now across the country, entails what is called “vinculum juris,” or the “network of rights,” duties, liabilities and so forth. Unfortunately, this policy does not. In fact, this six-page P3 policy merely reflects the objectives of the government and grossly lacks institutional framework.

How can the Minister assure the public this non-statutory policy will stack up to the rigour of public confidence? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, in this case, the proof will be in the pudding. We’ve laid out all the steps that we are following, the rigour and due diligence that we’re putting through in evaluating whether in fact the Stanton Hospital would even make the test for a valid P3 project and we have very capable people that are going to look at implementing the policy that we do have. It will be held accountable. It’s going to be a transparent process and we will engage on an ongoing basis with the appropriate committees. Thank you.

Let me remind the Minister, an act is designed to improve public operational efficiency, environmental performance, promote safety, attract the right private investment and minimize public liabilities. This P3 policy does not.

So again, how can the Minister stand before this House and denounce what is in the interest of public of a proper accountability and transparency process? Why did the department just not enact proper legislation rather than support and promote a policy? Thank you.

Thank you. If the Member has specific suggestions other than we should do legislation, we’d be happy to look at those at this juncture.

If there is going to be any legislation considered, that would be now part of transition planning for the 18th Legislative Assembly.

Thank you. The public has been led to believe that this lesser degree of scrutiny under a P3 policy rather than legislative process is what will guide and govern the decision-making of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars of public money.

Can the Minister elaborate by what statutory obligation will general liability tort third-party liability for taxation or general risk liabilities be covered with the inadequacies of a non-statutory P3 policy? Thank you.

Thank you. It was a long question, lots of technical requests, legal references. Let me just assure the public and the Member opposite that, at the end of the day, $350 million will be invested in Stanton. It will be a state-of-the-art facility, it will last us well past the time that I’m still walking God’s green earth and it will be something that we’ll all be very, very proud of. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you. We’ve come to expect these types of responses from the Minister. To my opening comments today where the Minister assures there would be a built-in, full engagement of the committees on this P3 policy, upon review of the policy, it only briefly mentions standing committee would be involved in the proposal assessment phase, yet fails to prescribe exactly by what means this would happen.

Can the Minister elaborate? Where is the full engagement as promised? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We’d be happy to sit down with committee if there are concerns by committee on the process going forward. We’d be happy to have those discussions to make sure it is as fulsome, integrated and engaged as possible as befits consensus government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we intend to maintain our commitment and enhance our commitment to alternative energies, to biomass, and one of the questions that’s going to be posed tonight is what type of regulation and legislation do we need, in fact, to allow us to enhance woodstove use, biomass, solar use. Are there specific pieces of legislation that other jurisdictions may have, because we don’t have any right now. We have legislation that governs oil and gas installations and those types of things, so we are very interested in that. We’ve got pathfinders in the regions. We’re going to be looking at training more people so that, in fact, you can do the proper inspections and get the insurance coverage and those types of issues dealt with as well.

That sounds good. I’d like to ask the Minister, how is the department working with the communities who have taken on biomass to expand?

We work with communities on a community-by-community project basis at this point. Where there is an interest, for example, in the Member’s community of McPherson there has been waste heat work done. We have been studying the viability of using fast growing willows as a source of biomass in addition to all the other standard programs of general applications that are there for all businesses and individuals to apply for. We’re also, of course, very interested in working with communities as they do their own energy plans, to see what long-term planning needs to be done to ensure things are integrated and fit both for the community but are part of the broader planning of the government.

Aside from one of the diamond mines, we don’t really have any wind turbines within the Northwest Territories except for a miniature one that’s always been up in Inuvik.

I’d like to ask the Minister, when does the Minister estimate the first wind turbine to be operating in the Northwest Territories communities?