Natural Resources Committee on June 7th, 2012
Evidence of meeting #42 for Natural Resources in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was yukon.
A recording is available from Parliament.
On the agenda
MPs speaking
Also speaking
- Peter Jenkins Mayor, City of Dawson
- Pujjuut Kusugak Mayor, Hamlet of Rankin Inlet
- Peter Tapatai Representative, Hamlet of Baker Lake
10:30 a.m.
Conservative
10:30 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Leon Benoit
Thank you, Mr. Allen. You're out of time.
We will finally go to Ms. Liu, for five minutes.
10:30 a.m.
NDP
Laurin Liu Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you.
May I ask the committee for unanimous consent to continue after the bells start for the vote?
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Leon Benoit
You've heard the question. Ms. Liu is asking for unanimous consent to finish her round of questioning if the bells start. Is that agreed?
These gentlemen have come a long way, and we certainly want to get in as many questions as possible.
10:35 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
June 7th, 2012 / 10:35 a.m.
NDP
Laurin Liu Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I appreciate that. Thanks to the committee.
Also, thanks to the witnesses for coming down here. I'd like to reiterate my colleagues' welcome to the south.
I'd like to start my line of questioning with Mr. Jenkins. I was reading the Yukon energy strategy last night with great interest. I see that there is, as a goal, increasing energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. What is the progress that's been made on that so far?
10:35 a.m.
Mayor, City of Dawson
Actually, our demand for electrical energy is ever increasing because of the high cost of fossil fuels, and more and more are converting to electric heat, which is hydro-generated. So all of our new condos and residences, primarily in Whitehorse, are electrically heated. Even in rural Yukon, in our community, which is now on hydro, electric heat is more in place than fossil fuel heat.
It's probably an opportunity for Canada to look at a multitude of areas. The one that everybody is afraid to look at, which is being looked at in Alaska, is a lot of the small nuclear reactors that come in a sea-can and that you bury in the ground. They run unattended for 30 years, and then you dig them up and take them out. But because of the consequences of what happened in Japan, with nuclear energy and nuclear reactors, everyone is afraid to even consider it or look at it. But I believe it's an opportune time, because the demands for energy are going to ever increase, and it might be an opportunity to get off fossil fuel, use nuclear energy for generating electricity, and use electricity to heat our various residences.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Laurin Liu Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Right. Do you have any information on the specific progress that has been made on this and on the follow-up or...?
10:35 a.m.
Mayor, City of Dawson
I'm not aware of the results of the follow-up.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
10:35 a.m.
Mayor, City of Dawson
I'm aware that the Yukon Energy Corporation and the Yukon Electric Company Limited, which is an ATCO company, are heavily involved in this, and it's demand-side management.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Laurin Liu Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay.
I also know that one of the priorities within the strategy is the issue of home retrofits. Do you know if the federal program of home eco-retrofits has been widely used in Yukon? What's the complement between the provincial program and the federal program?
10:35 a.m.
Mayor, City of Dawson
It is well used. It's administered by the Yukon Housing Corporation. The funding is flowing into all of the respective communities, not only for retrofitting but for upgrading houses under a new construction plan to have R values of 100 for a roof or ceiling and 60 for walls. But the biggest problem is doors and windows, where the maximum R value you can get is probably about 8 or 9. That's the issue, and it's going to continue to be the issue.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Laurin Liu Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I know that in Yukon they are also planning the development of geothermal. What's the progress on that? Can you give us a portrait of that sector?