Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, in fact, I did raise the issue of bonuses with the chair of the NWT Power Corporation board and was informed that they did a review, had an external review of their system, and they were putting together a package. I haven’t seen anything beyond that.

Again I would express our concerns from the Legislative Assembly that the bonus system or the merit system that’s out there needs to withstand public scrutiny. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my direct role with the Power Corporation is more with the board and the chairperson in discussing initiatives that come forward, concerns that are raised. For example, I had an opportunity to meet with the board in Norman Wells and inform them of the concerns that would be raised by Members and by people of the Northwest Territories when this winter arrives. After a general rate application is approved and the notice of rate riders is out there, as the Power Corporation and as Minister responsible, we send the message. We have to look at the way we do our operations. We can’t...

Mr. Speaker, first things first. We need to get our house in order, and we’re doing that. Again, I’m glad to know that the price of the movie is $30. We can work with the appropriate departments to try and make sure that we get this information and the movie out to as many students in our schools as we can. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise Members that the Hon. Michael McLeod will be absent from the House today, tomorrow and Thursday to attend the Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for Housing meeting in Ottawa.

This was one of the ones that was communicated to Ministers, and those letters were forwarded to Members of the Assembly. The approaches to regionalization of government was one of those. We haven’t put the energy into that file, because most of the energy has gone into the Refocusing Government initiative.

In my Budget Address back in May I also referenced that this was work we would be looking at. There hasn’t been a lot of energy put into that, as we were, again, putting the energy into Refocusing Government and a number of the other initiatives. We still have to come up with the terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of initiatives and times that I’ve communicated to Members of the Assembly and to the public regarding the actions we are undertaking as a new government and the direction we are trying to set and some of the changes.

For example, Mr. Speaker, in the Budget Address I gave information on the fact that we would be dealing with the strategic initiative committees. In the letters that I sent to the Ministers on their mandates, I copied those letters to the Chair of P and P and outlined all the initiatives there. Building Our Future, Refocusing Government...

Mr. Speaker, I think the fact that some of our debate in this House is about having the proper consultation, and the approach we use, and the change we need to see here in the Northwest Territories…. An example of some of that change is that earlier today Minister Bob McLeod announced the SEED policy, the program coming into effect helping small businesses in our communities.

It’s that type of approach that we see happening, yet we realize we still have some traditional economies out there that we need to continue to support, like the trapping program and trying to get back into, for example...

Mr. Speaker, as the Member has put it so well, it is hard to disagree with a statement or a question that’s…. We want the system to work better. We agree as we look at the global environment and the economy that there is a need for change. We have to look at that ourselves, as the Government of Northwest Territories, in our approach. The issue will be: how can we start that shift happening? I think we’re starting to do some of that.

For example, in the upcoming business plans we are going to be looking from the energy side trying to expand the way we deliver energy in the Northwest Territories...

Mr. Speaker, because of the direct relationship with the Chair of the NWT Power Corporation board and the fact that we are the sole shareholder, any information that is being put forward when there are incidents of outages and so on include quite a number of things that I get updated on regularly as we progress forward.

The other initiative ongoing, long term, for example, is the hydro development that we’re looking at doing. As highlighted by Minister Bob McLeod earlier, there are a number of initiatives we’re jointly working on in trying to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee, the Power Corporation, along with myself and a number of other Ministers, is looking at a number of initiatives that can help with individuals here in the Northwest Territories. We’re bringing that paper forward to Members for consideration. Within the Power Corporation itself we have to, as would be done any time we go before the PUB for a general rate application for rate riders, prove up the numbers, as they say. So there are a number of initiatives that are undertaken.

I’ll commit to get more details for the...