Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a few areas that I would like to delve into here under the power subsidy issue. The program, as outlined here, suggests that the government is going to inject about $8.3 million into subsidizing electrical power that will largely go to individual households in the diesel powered communities, Mr. Chairman. A smaller amount goes to a commercial subsidy program. I would note, Mr. Chairman, that that is a projected increase of about $1.2 million from this current year. I’m sorry; it is the same as this current year, Mr. Chairman, but this current year is $1.2...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the intention, as outlined in the business plan to do this in the coming fiscal year, there’s a suggestion that we may need to back off from that timing.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Roland has reflected for this committee, Madam Chair, what we have heard in previous briefings. This is a major initiative and it is one that I look forward to a successful roll-out and a good implementation. It really will affect the calibre and the satisfaction and performance of our workforce. I place a really high significance and value on the work that’s being undertaken.

Now, I wanted to see if the Minister could give us some idea if we’re going to see more or less a status quo, roughly the same number of people continuing to be involved...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not expecting the Minister to speak for the Minister of Finance for Canada, but I’m wondering if he might be able to tell us from his perspective what are Canada’s or does the Department of Finance in Ottawa continue to have objections? I understand that that committee has twice heard recommendations to amend this act; it has twice refused. Why are they continuing to do so? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The need to replace this big piece of computer infrastructure has been demonstrated, at least to me. I know that has come up for probably the last three years in discussions of this department, so we're moving ahead on it. This current year, according to the information provided, we'll be spending about $183,000 on it. The department is asking for $500,000 this year, with the anticipation of spending $15 million over the next two years, for a total project cost of $15.7 million. That is a very large computer, Mr. Chairman.

A question that I wanted to ask; we're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Honourable Brendan Bell, the Minister of RWED and responsible for the GNWT’s diamond file. One estimate has it, Mr. Speaker, that some 200 people, including families, are involved in the sorting and cutting and polishing industry here in Yellowknife, using Canadian diamonds to make Canadian jewellery. But if you want to go and buy this, you have to pay 10 percent more than anywhere else in the world and that’s not really a very good situation. My question, Mr. Speaker, is has our government considered John Duncan’s private...

Okay. I think I’m going to want to park this one for now, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to go back and do a bit more investigation into that. The terminology is important to me. Whether it’s rate or base rate gives it considerable flexibility and I’ll come back to the core of my line of questioning which was universality. If there is going to be some kind of a temporary cost-induced increase for some power customers in the NWT and we’re going to rescue them, why aren’t we doing it for everybody? Electricity is electricity. I’m concerned that we’re tinkering here with something that really I think is...

Thank you. I follow the Minister’s argument there. I guess what I’m looking at is a rate rider, Mr. Chairman, from my understanding, is a temporary price adjustment. It is subject to certain terms and time frames. The Minister is referring to the base rate, which again, from my understanding, is something that goes through an extraordinarily complex process and has to be approved by the Public Utilities Board. The base rate will not change, because there’s a temporary rate rider imposed on Yellowknife. So this is my understanding. I wanted to confirm with the Minister if this is the case. Are...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’re always ready to accommodate everybody in Committee of the Whole. I appreciate your mention. I wanted to thank Mr. Voytilla for that explanation. Obviously he and his work with the folks at the Power Corporation and perhaps the Public Utilities Board and Northland Utilities will have access to a greater level of detail than I. I can only hope that forecast of zero growth in the cost of this subsidy will hold for this coming year. I guess I must express some skepticism considering the trend that we’ve seen, but I will not challenge it any further.

The government...

Why is it that all of a sudden we’re about to put the brakes on this and anticipate no change? It just looks as if there’s some kind of an anomaly going on with the trends in the forecasting. That’s where I’d like to put this question. Why, in the face of sustained and fairly predictable increases in the cost of this subsidy, is there no increase forecast for next year? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.