Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Power outages are all too common in our smallest communities, which generally depend on a diesel plant to generate electricity. In Kakisa, loss of electrical power has caused frozen pipes and septic lines, and other difficulties.

In fact, Kakisa does not even have a generator. Its power comes from the Dory Point generator operated by Northland Utilities near the Mackenzie River; and Northland itself is a small division of a big Alberta company. Some power outages are caused by the weight of accumulated snow on power lines. Some are caused by unexpected spikes in power consumption. Sometimes, it takes a while to find a cause.

Kakisa does not use a lot of power, but it is still very important to the community's residents. For example, when electricity is lost for an extended period, elders who rely on furnaces to heat their homes sometimes have to leave, or find some place where there's a wood stove. Leaving your home unattended for even a day can result in frozen water lines, and that has happened.

Mr. Speaker, as small as it is, Kakisa could become a model to showcase renewable energy products and sustainability. The community worked with the Arctic Energy Alliance on a very basic community energy plan completed in 2010.

Since then, the community has discussed a number of ideas, but it is not easy to find help, and then money, to turn the best ideas into reality. Maybe a central heating system fuelled by wood pellets could supply the entire community. Perhaps, the power line could be extended from Hay River, linking Kakisa to the Taltson River grid, or a local mini-hydro system might be built to supply the community's needs. Maybe the solution to frequent outages is as simple as a portable backup generator for each household.

The problem is, it seems to be no one's job to study these opportunities and come up with a working solution. Once again, I wonder: why doesn't the government help the small communities? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.