Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of net metering is one that has been looked at. In fact, a recommendation was made by the PUB through, I believe, the 2006–2008 General Rate Application. At that point there was direction given to look at what opportunities there were and come back with a proposal on that. It affects a number of areas. For example, when an individual or a company is generating power for themselves and they want to hook up to the system, there’s the interconnection guidelines that have to fall into place. They’ve been working on those.

The Power Corporation itself is open to...

We are looking at a number of ways to try to reduce the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. The Member is right; this is not a new area. It is fairly new for the Northwest Territories or at least for the Power Corporation. Yes, we know that we need to step up to the plate in this area to look at what we can do. There has to be recognition from all parties, though, that there’s a fixed infrastructure in place for the Northwest Territories and our communities. Although we’re trying to transition away, for example, from diesel generation, there’s still that fixed cost, the backup that we...

We are working on coming forward with all the information, and I will get the additional information on exactly where, for example, the metering system is. I know from the Power Corporation side they’re open to having discussions. There are a number of factors, for example, to buying back the power, standby rates and some of the safety issues there. I will commit to the Member to get back the detail on just where we’re sitting today with that.

I think there are a number of factors that are occurring as we have this discussion. In fact, I think Northland NWT is in the final phases of coming up with some of these arrangements that would see an agreement in place between a customer and their own company. That, I believe, has gone forward to the PUB for review. So these things are coming in place, and if there are areas with problems, I’ll gladly look at ways we can bring the appropriate parties together to try to make things happen.

For the record I should state that in my initial takeover of this file I have asked the question about bonuses and what’s being done and have requested further information.

The simple fact is that when you look at corporations across the country, there are processes in place that are governed by policies that are established on what can and can’t be done. I can share in the discontent of Members of this House with the board to say that should be one of the last things that gets reviewed, but it is part of a process that’s been in place for years. We have to be competitive in what we’re trying...

Maybe the Member’s cold is affecting his hearing.

I did say that the long term has been a general trend upward through that. When the Power Corporation, for example, Mr. Speaker, goes out for a resupply on fuel in our most remote northern communities, we end up paying the price at delivery. Then when we don’t have enough dollars to meet the requirements, we have to put an application in for general rate application changes.

Over the years the trend has been, as with everything else in the North, a higher cost, whether it’s employees we have to pay because we need to keep them on site or the cost...

Mr. Speaker, I think this also reflects more on the idea of devolution. People of the North who call us — those born here, raised here; those who moved here and now call it home — have more say in how we do things in the North. This Assembly can direct how we spend the budget dollars we approve in this Assembly. This Assembly, Members of this Assembly, not just me, can say if we should in fact aggressively pursue an agriculture policy that the Member spoke about earlier and put that in place and if we should be part of the fish marketing group or if we should step out on our own and develop...

Again, we do have to operate with what we have available under our authority as the Government of the Northwest Territories, but the facts will speak for themselves. Prior to any significant reinvestment and capital projection in the Northwest Territories by the private sector, which drove up our GDP as the fastest growing jurisdiction in Canada for a number of years, the fact is that our corporate income tax has grown significantly since the business has taken part in the Northwest Territories. In fact, our personal income tax has grown through the revenue base because we have more people on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Power Corporation has indeed filed an application to the PUB for rate riders to deal with the cost pressures around fuel to deliver the services. The board operates at arm’s length from this Assembly through the NWT Power Corporation Act. They have gone out to seek outside sources to look at the method of bonus or merit pay that they would deal with, and they’ve come back with an area…. I believe they’re in the process of finalizing what and who would qualify.

Mr. Speaker, through the Department of Human Resources along with the Executive, we have been looking at, for example, the federal initiative that was undertaken regarding merit pay. We are working with that program. As I said, we have not concluded the process yet. We are almost a year into our mandate. So it is something that is under consideration, and we will be coming up with a decision very soon here. It is something that we have to recognize, though. Yes, we need to be doing something based on merit, and we have to also recognize that we need to try to be competitive in a whole lot of...