Bob McLeod

We will continue to do what we can in this area. It’s very important for us, or critical for us, to wait until the final reports so that we can work from there. I think one of the very important factors is the sunset clause that was discussed at length. We would have to wait for the final report on that. Also the federal government has, through the consult to modify process, we will have to wait until that process runs its course and everything is geared to when we get the final report in September of this year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the release of the Joint Review Panel report, governments have had to spend their time and effort on dealing with the recommendations, and legal advice we have been provided is that we should let the responsible Minister deal with the pipeline. As such, we have been limiting our remarks to just talking in general terms about the pipeline. That’s the approach that we’ve been taking.

Thank you. We see that as part of our public education process. As well, utilizing the PUB process we’ll make sure that every community or municipality will have the basic information that will explain how these rate changes will be undertaken and, certainly, they’ll have an opportunity for input at that level as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will be working with the Public Utilities Board. Right now, our timelines are that we will be introducing these changes for implementation in October of 2010. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are working very diligently to make sure that all of the timelines are met and that when the report comes out in September 2010 we’ll be able to deal with the recommendations.

The responsible Minister for our government is working hand in hand with the responsible federal Ministers. The timeline that everybody is working towards is to finalize the final reports by September 2010.

Thank you. As the Member knows, up until this point we’ve been operating with 33 different rates for the Northwest Territories. What we are doing is we are moving to seven rate zones and on that basis we have simplified the system significantly. We’re also moving to territorial-wide rate riders so that in the interest of fairness, we have a more balanced approach with regard to costs. So on that basis we have simplified the system. We have also committed to working with those communities that have power provided by NUL so that we can work out similar arrangements there as well. Thank you, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, this morning we had a technical briefing with the media. We will have a press conference this afternoon at two o’clock. We also will be attending the NWTAC meeting in Hay River where we will be doing further briefing of the communities. We will also be sending out information to all of the interveners and it includes all of the communities that participated in this process. Certainly, as we go forward, we will provide detailed information to our clientele. I think it’s also important to note that we will be working a lot closer with the utilities and they will also be providing...

Mr. Speaker, the people of the Northwest Territories have been telling their elected leaders for some time that changes needed to be made to our electricity system so that it was more efficient, more affordable and more equitable for all Northwest Territories residents.

Today that change has come to our Territory, with the tabling later today of the Government of the Northwest Territories response to both the electricity review and the Northwest Territories Power Corporation review, entitled: Efficient, Affordable and Equitable: Creating a Brighter Future for the Northwest Territories...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In October 2009, I announced that the implementation of 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan was well underway. I made a commitment to provide an update to this House on the progress that was made during the first year.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to fulfill that commitment to the Members by tabling the formal action plan and results report later today. The report captures all the accomplishments that were achieved during the first year of our strategic plan. I would also like to share the highlights with Members now, Mr. Speaker.

In order to create...