Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will take that as "when we get a person to staff the position," then we can go from there. I guess my question is: do our air regulations have any plans to regulate the amount of CO2 emissions?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is still under discussion. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My concern is that the Auditor General, one of the specific things is that we seem to lack any clear authority of responsibility for climate change. If we know that the energy strategy is not going to get us to meet our targets and we know that we, as a government, are not reaching our targets, which I think, considering we are disproportionately affected by climate change, really is not showing that we are a leader -- we are a relatively small jurisdiction. I recognize that, but I think we all have to do our part. If we know that we are not on track to meet our targets, does the Minister of ENR have any ability to do anything about that?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have offered to do a technical briefing as well as to get a technical briefing with the energy strategy. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Listen, I get that I am probably not going to get the Minister of ENR to commit to a legislated target that is enforceable right now in this question period, although that is what I would like to see. A number of researchers have suggested one of the best ways from the Northwest Territories, given the remoteness of our communities and the difficulty of getting off diesel, is simply for us to purchase carbon offsets or to acquire the Power Corporation or other large emitters, industrial people, to purchase carbon offsets, which would then allow us to meet our carbon targets by funding other green projects. Has the GNWT ever purchased carbon offsets?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of ENR.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, we haven't. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Interestingly enough, we, as Members, are actually allowed to purchase carbon offsets through our CWAA to save for any flights we may take. Just an interesting fact for Members. I would like to see the GNWT look into that. Will the Minister of ENR -- I recognize that perhaps Finance, I don't know where exactly this would lie -- be willing to look in the possibility of GNWT utilizing carbon offsets as one of the many tools in fighting climate change?

Thank you, Madam Chair. That would be a question for the Department of Finance. I would encourage the Member to reach out to the Minister of Finance to ask that question. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you. I assure you I will reach out to the Minister of Finance and give her some more work to do. Sorry. No further questions at this time, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Moving on to Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. I am just looking at a page 77 line item here with the Interim Resource Management Assistance Program. Just a quick question to the Minister: this line item here, there doesn't seem to be any increases for the last little while, the last couple years. Can I ask the Minister why hasn't this been increased? Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of ENR.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is the money we are getting from the federal government. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. What is his department doing to contribute to this program? Mahsi cho.