Merci, Monsieur le President. On the theme of small communities, I want to turn to the issue of building energy self-sufficiency. I firmly believe this is exactly what the NWT Power Corporation should be doing, that is, basically doing itself out of a job by starting to finally face the transition that all utilities must deal - our overreliance on big grids, crumbling assets, a shrinking user base, and ever higher power rates that leads to a self-fulfilling spiral out of control.

On the very last day of the last Assembly, I tabled information on costs for many hydro projects for the Tlicho communities of Whati, Gameti and Wekweeti. As I understand it, these three projects, which would eliminate the use of diesel in three communities, could be built for around the same cost as the much-delayed Whati transmission line. When I raised this issue in the last Assembly, I got no real answers.

Mr. Speaker, I don't expect much more here today. That's because the Department of Infrastructure and the NWT Power Corporation are still locked into the old paradigm of big grids and centralized power rather than adapting to new realities of renewable and alternative energy and building energy self-sufficiency in small communities.

In 2019, the department had not even done any evaluation of energy options for these Tlicho communities but was plowing ahead with the transmission line of questionable cost and value. I will have questions later today for the Minister of Infrastructure on building energy self-reliance for smaller communities, especially in the Tlicho region. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.