Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a pleasure to speak to you today at the resumption of the second session of the 16th Legislative Assembly. It provides an opportunity to take stock of the busy months we have had and to discuss our directions for the future.

You will recall that together as Members of the Assembly we identified major goals for our great territory:

A strong, independent North, where Northerners make their own decisions and chart their own course;

An environment that sustains Northerners today and into the future;

Healthy and well-educated people with bright futures and the skills they...

Further to my Return to Written Question 26-16(2) I wish to table the following two documents entitled Territorial Power Support Program, Payments Received by the NTPC, and NWT Power Corporation, Income Statement by Community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Document 85-16(2), Territorial Power Support Program, Payments Received by NTPC, tabled.

Document 86-16(2), NWT Power Corporation, Income Statement by Community, tabled.

Let’s draw a direct comparison to the Government of the Northwest Territories and our public service. The fact is that every year it costs us more money. Whether or not there’s an increased workload, a new negotiated settlement drives up our costs. Those that are within the purview or the benefit of that are affected.

Some people are not within that, so we make these allowances so that they’re adjusted. But we have a competitive process we need to be in, and we try to adjust accordingly. The Power Corporation, as I stated earlier, has gone outside to review how it deals with the merit pay...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the NWT Power Corporation goes before the Public Utilities Board, it does put in for requests, whether it’s a general rate rider or a rate application and approval. There are times when within the PUB’s overview of what’s being asked, rate riders are put in place. When those rate riders come to their time allocation, they’re backed out of the equation.

For example, the ones that are being looked for now are looking at a timeline of potentially 18 months. They potentially have the impact of about $12 on the average consumer across the Northwest Territories. There’s...

Mr. Speaker, our first budget starts the plan of investing in communities and in the people of the Northwest Territories, whether it is making sure that they can take the jobs that workers now take or whether it is the fact that we’re going to help aboriginal corporations enter into the business economy that is out there. There are a whole number of things that we are doing as the Government of the Northwest Territories through those strategic initiatives that will have a positive impact as we progress.

Mr. Speaker, we can also look back at when industry shut down on us. I’ll use the Mackenzie...

I am taking a big breath, Mr. Speaker. The Member is asking where the truth is in the statement. I don’t know where he’s heading with that. He has his own beliefs as to where we should go as a government, and my stance is on positions I put forward.

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that our economy and the heating of our homes in the present day require resources. We have those resources in the Northwest Territories. In fact, we have resources that would help the climate change initiative if we were to switch to alternative natural gas instead of home heating oil, for example, and diesel fuel for...

Mr. Speaker, the process we are involved with right now is one we’ve looked at in the federal system, and that would be a substantial increase in salaries, and then reduce the merit pay. But we are not prepared to give a substantial increase in salaries to our senior staff, so we are looking within our existing framework to put something together. I would be prepared to sit down with Members at the appropriate time to go through details of a review. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact is that as the Government of the Northwest Territories we hear about the challenges that we face in recruitment and keeping our staff. The merit pay system is something that has to be taken into consideration. In our life, as the 16th Legislative Assembly, that has not occurred as of yet, but we are undergoing a process of reviewing that scenario now.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The review of the Business Incentive Policy is laid out in the Member’s motion. As the Government of the Northwest Territories, we have to look at how this works for us. The Budget Address identified…. The wording is reviewed and the focus seems to be on elimination, but the process is the elimination of the Business Incentive Policy, particularly its application to capital projects, while maintaining its commitment to local and northern purchasing.

As the Member has noted, this policy is 24 years old. It’s not a question of whether the Government of the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, an interest we always have as the Government of the Northwest Territories is seeing a successful venture happen and the benefits staying in the North. As we develop this and bring this back to Members, we hope we can lay out how it’s coming together.

One of the issues with the P3 process — even the federal government and other jurisdictions have had to wrestle with this — is that a true P3 would put the majority of risk on the private sector. As a government we would have to see how far we go that way. One of our exercises in our last initial round in the late ’90s, I believe, was...