Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to correct an impression that I apparently perplexed both the Minister and the Premier with. I have been commenting that the science shows we cannot pursue the exploitation of our fossil fuel reserves in the Northwest Territories as a cornerstone of an economic development strategy. Both this Minister and the Premier are, unintentionally I am sure, misconstruing this comment to say that I want a faster shift to renewable energy. I think we all want a faster shift to renewable energy but that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying we cannot build our economy on fossil fuels that science shows we must leave in the ground.
Currently, of course, we import all our fossil fuels, essentially exclusively, so yes, we do need to shift to renewable resources and get off those, but if at
the same time the government pushes the extraction of our fossil fuels, the most emissions intensive source of energy in the world, according to the science, which we know must stay in the ground just to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, and of course, we are taking one step forward and three steps back and shooting ourselves in the foot, so stop pursuing fossil fuel development. Although it’s not focused on a lot in this budget because there is very little activity, we’re still spending a lot of money pursuing this, including about $5 million in this budget that could, in fact, given the science, be put in to developing a sound economy that actually is sustainable and provides a healthy future for us as opposed to the one contemplated with the pursuit of fossil fuels that we know should stay in the ground.
I’d welcome the Minister’s more informed response, but I just wanted to clarify that both the Premier and the Minister have been misconstruing that comment into wanting to go faster and faster, and they’re espousing all the great things that we’re doing and our Arctic Energy Alliance and our own government shift to renewable energy, which I appreciate, but that’s not relevant to the comment I am making.