Finance committee  Absolutely. We've been talking with both the Government of Saskatchewan and the Government of Alberta, and I think part of their interest is because of the need to go to cleaner energy sources. That provides it, compared to coal-burning types of facilities.

Finance committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. My understanding is, yes, it is being used on some of the infrastructure investments that have been announced recently. You're right that on things like the CHT, the social fund, and even the territorial health fund, they're not always done on a base plus, it

Finance committee  The Taltson project is very near the town of Forth Smith. It's right near the N.W.T. border with Alberta and Saskatchewan. That's where the three of them come together, within a few hundred kilometres. When I say very near, it's in the northern context of very near, but it's down

Finance committee  Thank you. In terms of sustainability, I think for the GNWT it really involves finding ways to do development in a manner that balances both the environmental protection and the protection of our lands with the development that creates the jobs and the opportunities that people

Finance committee  Thank you for that. There are two elements that I'd like to talk about very briefly. One is the economic potential of the north. There is huge resource potential. The reality is that our economy is relatively weakly developed, or immature. What this means is that when we do a m

Finance committee  Thank you for that, and I do have to give the federal government credit, because there are many programs that use a base-plus approach. What that essentially entails is a base level of funding for all jurisdictions for an initiative, and then allocating the remaining funding on m

Finance committee  Again, I just want to make sure that we welcome all the members to the Northwest Territories. We are always very happy when people visit us here, so thank you for doing that. In terms of our hydroelectric projects, the Taltson project is probably the largest in terms of the pote

Finance committee  In terms of electricity, certainly there are some opportunities to connect mining projects to the grid. It's often very expensive. With our existing diamond mines, for example, there was a proposal, which was fairly well developed, to take power from the Taltson system and move i

Finance committee  Mr. McLeod is absolutely right. We have quite an infrastructure deficit in the north, and transportation infrastructure is one of those areas. There has been a long-standing priority to put a highway up the Mackenzie Valley. It's an area that's rich in particularly oil and gas. I

Finance committee  I think those go hand in hand for the most part. Take the Mackenzie Valley Highway, for example. There are several communities along the Mackenzie River that would be connected as construction takes place there moving from a winter road system to an all-season road. That would en

Finance committee  The member is exactly right. Housing, particularly in our smaller communities, has significant problems associated with it. It's the adequacy of the housing units. There are crowding issues, and there are affordability issues. When you and I buy a house in a larger community, we

Finance committee  Good morning, and welcome to Yellowknife. Thank you for providing us with the opportunity to speak to you today on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. I know that our premier and our minister of finance would have liked to be here with you today, but as many