The Taltson River has 18 megawatts of installed hydro capacity but has 200 megawatts of hydro potential which could be developed over the next decade. The Taltson Hydro Expansion combined with a southern transmission link, could provide a green energy corridor that would stabilize power costs in the North, displace coal generation in the South and remove economic barriers to remote resource development. The first phase, if we go down that route, would leverage past work to build a 60-megawatt hydro expansion within five years that would double the Northwest Territories hydro capacity and eliminate 360,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
The Government of the Northwest Territories has engaged the Saskatchewan government and SaskPower to explore the costs and market conditions for a project linked with their jurisdiction. Alberta is also an area of interest. Our government has signed on to the Pan-Canadian Climate Framework. We have identified this as a priority with the Government of Canada. We have no indication whether they are committed to that. We are hopeful that we have a positive signal from the federal budget that will be out on March 22nd, and we have been criticized for advancing the House in projects. Until we have customers and until we have an indication of federal support, we do not think we have a project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.