Environment committee  Some of the cost factors are clearly the isolation, the mobilization of materials and people, or skilled labour; the lack of infrastructure equipment in the communities, for example, cranes; and the lack of other support infrastructure. In the south, if a building is being built

Environment committee  Yes, it is a factor, and Mr. Fournier pointed that out as well. There is a great desire in the north to build capacity, to therefore try to involve and train more local people to become familiar with infrastructure. It's almost for the next generation, because it doesn't exist to

Environment committee  Yes. There's actually a workshop being planned in Yellowknife that's going to be tri-territorial. We're going to be meeting with people from CHARS, Polar Knowledge, and the CMHC, as well as the other jurisdictions, specifically to talk about research gaps and the state of buildin

Environment committee  In terms of local employment, the government has contract requirements that it puts in to try to stimulate the economy, which is part of the government's mandate, as Mr. Fournier pointed out, to try to have local involvement. The local involvement means not just local hires, but

Environment committee  Okay. I don't see diesel generation in the north being phased out in the foreseeable future for many of the reasons you just said. It's the most secure form of maintaining energy in the north and because of the location and climate, security of energy is most important. Having

Environment committee  I'm not aware of that innovation, and I would be very interested to get more information on that. The question around premanufacture versus stick-build on site is not a new kind of question in housing delivery in the north. Going right back to the 1970s, they were prefabbing pan

Environment committee  That's a good question. What I was trying to get at when I spoke of the evolution of the buildings that the social housing portfolio has produced over the decades is that ultimately what we're dealing with up here is trying to find the balance. When you come up with a nationa

Environment committee  One thing we would love to see— Okay. Sorry, is that it?

Environment committee  I was going to say that one thing that we would love to see, because people approach us fairly often with new ideas and new approaches, is more research and development being done on these products at the federal level. They don't necessarily always have to be done in the north.

Environment committee  No problem.

Environment committee  Thank you. My name is Gary Wong. I am the director of infrastructure at the Nunavut Housing Corporation up here in Iqaluit. I don't have a prepared presentation or specific agenda in mind. I was notified of this on very short notice, but I am quite willing to participate and answ