Thank you for your indulgence, Mr. Chair. In the past, Members have raised a little bit of concern as it relates to the Net Metering Program that the territorial government undertakes. We appreciate that, you know, the Public Utility Board plays a role and the Power Corporation plays a role.

First of all, maybe what we can do for the record is get a little bit of clarification from the Minister and from his colleagues with regard to the energy division of Infrastructure and what role they play in support of the Net Metering Program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Guy.

Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the insight. It's been brought to our attention in the past that, you know, we're doing what we can as it relates to net metering in promoting it for residential use and there have been some who have been taking us up on that. That's good. Where we really need to encourage net metering is in the higher diesel use businesses and facilities, and in particular, in large centers like Yellowknife.

One of the things that's been identified in the past is that, and forgive me if I don't have the proper terminology, but the kilowatt per hour maximum that we've allowed net metering to be utilized for is only like 15 kilowatts an hour. When businesses or large facilities do their business case on whether they should switch over to solar panels, it just doesn't work out.

There's been a request in the past to move that up from 15 to 50. Is this something that the department, through their energy division, is aware of, and is it something that they would be supportive of in promoting so that we can get these bigger facilities to switch over to solar and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not the Minister of the Power Corporation, but I think I know enough about it to speak to this a little bit. The reason that it's at the 15 kilowatt is to protect the rate bases to start with, because the problem with that is that you start getting into these people who get bigger than 15. Say you get to 500 kilowatts or more, you know, you start getting into independent power producers, things that we're going to have that in our energy plan for some of the communities that want to be able to sell it back into the system for Aboriginal governments and communities.

At the end of the day, we sit here and argue in the House about whether rate bases and the increases, and we have to protect the shareholder, which is the Power Corporation, to be able to at least break even on their cost of operation. The higher we give, to be able to put these renewables into the system like that, it puts a lot of pressure on the Power Corporation. Plus, with us trying to balance off all these other things, with carbon tax and everything else coming, I can't see us trying to increase that, especially in a hydro community where there's already hydro in the system. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I respect the concern, but, I mean, are we a government that supports getting off fossil fuel and working towards alternative energy sources or not? We continually say that we are, but then, you know, unfortunately replies like that are not proving our mandate correct. I mean, why can't we even give owners specific requests? When it comes to large companies or bigger facilities that we want to see get off of fossil fuels, I'm quite sure they're not trying to be in competition with the government as being a power provider. I mean, the government could even set the return rate. All they're trying to do is reduce their costs and the cost of doing business. We say that we stand for that, as well.

It's being proven in other jurisdictions. The Yukon is doing it already, and they've increased their kilowatt per hour ability for net metering.

Can't the government make a commitment to at least look into this further, see what our sister territory is doing and why they're successful in this, and work towards us meeting our goals of reducing the cost of business, the cost of living, and getting off fossil fuel reliance? I think this would be a helpful. Can the Minister commit to that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member will know, we're rolling out our energy strategy. We're very open to getting territorial citizens and the industry off lowering our greenhouse gases as much as we can. We're trying to figure out a way to implement renewables into the system and at the same time balancing off costs.

I get the Member's point. I'd like to get some specifics around what he's thinking about, say give me an example of a specific system that someone wants to put into Yellowknife that they want to operate. At the same time, we still have to be very mindful of the costs of doing this. The federal government, as we have signed off our bilaterals there yesterday, we have an opportunity to shift our whole economy around this energy, the way we continue to use it. I think there is a great opportunity to be able to do that moving forward.

At the same time, back to the Power Corporation, I have to protect their costs moving forward. I stood up in the House here the other day and said the amount of subsidies that we gave the Power Corporation to offset their costs on low water and these sorts of things, it's millions of dollars, and, if we were to continue to allow, particularly in the hydro communities, more and more renewables onto the system, it would put more pressure on the Power Corporation to supply power at a reasonable cost. It's going to drive up subsidies, as well.

We are open to this. I am not trying to get into a debate with the Member, but I think this is a very complicated situation. We are willing to look at all things, of how we can try to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and get off of diesel across the whole system. So we are willing to look at that through the energy strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. This has been a well-canvassed issue throughout the years that we have been in this Assembly. Anything further, Mr. Vanthuyne?

Yes, really nothing further. I think I have made my points, but, as the Minister has asked if I could be able to provide him some more detailed information with regard to what other jurisdictions are doing and, in fact, I do have that information provided to me by some sources, and so I will be able to share that with the Minister and his department so that he can evaluate what others are doing. I am sure, when he does, he will notice that we can do both. I mean we can be able to allow the Power Corporation to generate the required revenues they need to sustain their infrastructure, but we can also meet our goals of getting off of fossil fuel and lowering the cost of doing business and the cost of living here, in the North. So I will commit to that, and I will get it to him today. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Infrastructure, programs and services, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $23,925,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Moving on, regional operations, beginning on page 254. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my question is in the previous one about CAP and local roads. I had in my mind to ask about the program where the department provides docks in the communities, but I am not really sure where that budget item sits, so I would ask the question here, in regional operations, if they have money set aside, aside from the CAP funding, if there is other money set aside for the dock program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is no other program. Docks fall under the Community Access Program only. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That line item is just for existing winter roads. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.