Mr. Speaker, maybe the question could be better posed as, “How can we afford not to do it?”
We, in the north, have been wrestling with the issue of how to reduce one of the major cost drivers in our communities, which is the high cost of power, which is pretty much generated in all of our communities by diesel.
I served for three terms in the Government of the Northwest Territories, part of that as the environment minister. We looked at all different ways of lowering the costs and looking at alternate energy. It fell on deaf ears for 10 years. We applied to the green fund. We applied to many different pots of money that, historically, were in place, only to be rejected or to receive no response.
There is opportunity for us to move forward in the area of biomass. There is opportunity to look at cogeneration. There is opportunity to look at wind, hydro, solar. There are many opportunities, including expanding the lines that we have in terms of supplying our communities with hydro. We have the Taltson River dam, which has been releasing water because they cannot use and sell the power. We do not have the resources to expand the lines. We need a partner.
The current government is the one that has talked to us and has committed to work with us on it. We feel confident. It is time to move forward.