Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The world, including we in the NWT, has come to a fork in the road. We must all choose. The choice will affect what kind of world we live in and leave for our children and grandchildren. We can choose to ignore the science telling us that continued fossil fuel extraction beyond 20 percent of known conventional reserves must stay in the ground. We can ignore the respected voices telling us that economies based on fossil fuels are not sustainable morally, financially or ecologically from Pope Francis to Mark Carney to the Rockefellers. We can ignore the mounting evidence of damage caused by fracking and other fossil fuel extraction leading to adverse health impacts and disastrous climate change, contaminated lakes and rivers, poisoned aquifers and earthquakes, or we can choose a path less travelled. One million dollars invested in renewable energy creates three to four times as many jobs as does oil and gas.
Renewable energy production is hitting its stride worldwide. Denmark broke a world record for wind production by getting almost 40 percent of its overall electricity from wind in 2014, breaking UK's record of 25 percent of total production. On a day in December 2014, Germany reached 50 percent of energy demand from solar and wind.
The Globe and Mail reported in December that Canada's green energy sector had grown so quickly and is so vital to the economy that it now employs more people than the tar sands; good, sustainable jobs immune to the cycles of boom and bust associated with fossil fuel extraction. Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have seen their capacity to produce pollution-free electricity increase by eight gigawatts in the past five years, allowing one more Canadian household a minute to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
In that same period, investors have moved $25 billion into the sectors, spurring a 37 percent employment increase in renewable energy industries. Wind, solar, river and biomass capacity nearly doubled. This is momentum.
An economy based on renewable energy focuses benefits locally, as opposed to giving them to shareholders from afar. It provides equitable benefits, as opposed to a few big winners and many losers. A renewable energy approach creates self-sufficiency, addresses the cost of living, improves our health and engages families and their communities and their land.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted