Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, the business case that was put forward, the modelling, the request for support from federal funds, as well as this total project being based on the power purchase agreements that are to be signed with the mines. Without those power purchase agreements, there is no project. The issue of the construction phase is until the construction is done and the delivery of power happens, the revenue source isn’t there yet, so that’s the construction phase that they are seeking to have some commitment from the Government of the Northwest Territories or the federal government to deal with that...

There are a number of protections built in place when it comes to whether it is community drinking water, whether it is regulatory issues around the environment or around worksites and so on. More importantly, through the guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality, they set maximum acceptable concentrations for some of those areas of concern or the contaminants in the water that would be deemed acceptable. One of our other departments of Environment and Natural Sources does some work on the total water ecosystems that we operate within the Northwest Territories and are affected by other...

Mr. Speaker, the partnership that’s been formed, the partnership agreement that’s been started and worked on and has been initialled by the other partners, we, as the GNWT, as the sole shareholder of the Hydro Corporation and down through to, well, it would be the NWT Energy Corporation, have yet to sign that. We have to review that to see if, in fact, that is the best business case model that we could support of this project, and we’ve asked for some additional time to review that document. We don’t want to get into a situation where we’ve not protected our full interests, as Members have...

I know that, for example, in the NTPC review that was done, the issue with communications with the customer base is one that was brought up. I know we have to do an overall review and a response to that area to see if we can improve that. I’ve shared that communication side with the board as recently as this morning in fact. That is an area that we need to work on both from our side as the GNWT as well as from the board and sharing that information back and forth. As for the establishment or enhancing that level of service in communities by existing staff, I will check if there are any plans...

That would be difficult to provide an answer at this point. The long-term fiscal plan, again, of the partnership is, one, the partnership will have a board of governors, a governance council set up to make these business decisions. The business model that’s been put in place sees this project being viable because of the power purchase agreements and the return on investment through those after paying down the initial portion that would grow, of course, would grow faster if we were to do the full expansion up to I believe it’s 56 megawatts. Thank you.

The issue of disconnection and disconnection notices is one that has been raised a number of times either through this forum or directly to myself. I have forwarded that on to the board. I will again ask that that information be brought forward to look at it and see if there are particular issues the Member would like to have addressed that I could forward on to the board.

There have been ongoing negotiations for quite some time with the mines. In fact, there will be a meeting held in the very next...probably within the next week with the key folks from the mines. That will tell us if in fact we’re going to put any more effort into this. It is based on power purchase agreements that have to be signed off. But before we can get there, much like the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline, much work needs to be done to build the business model to go through the environmental phase, then a final decision on should the project go or not. We’re faced with the same scenario in the...

I don’t have that information offhand, but my understanding -- and we’ll provide the accurate information from Minister Bob McLeod’s office -- for example is that Diavik is talking in the neighbourhood of 20 years. We’ve got Gahcho Kue about to potentially come on-line, which was a whole new mine. We have BHP that is the shortest mine life right now. And Snap Lake’s underground operation I have yet to get the information there, but 12 years, as I understand. If we were able to provide a cheaper form of energy that could potentially grow, that’s something that we hope to achieve through this...

The partnership that has been put together that has built this business case, this model is based on the fact that the power purchase agreements make this project viable. That is why the most economical routing has been put forward. If we decide as a government to socially engineer this, as some of the wording that has been used, then the Government of the Northwest Territories needs to find some of its own-source revenues to offset that cost, otherwise it gets passed on to the rate base. Who in the communities along that side can stand an increase in power generation and the cost of power...

The developer’s assessment report is out there. It has gone through hearings and, in fact, the Member has stated that the alternative line or routing in that one area is a result of that environmental review and the request by the band to go around the very significant and important area of the Lockhart River. That is being looked at. That option is being developed and will be presented on that basis. That additional cost would have to be borne by the project. That is what I keep going back to, to look at other routings, and we have provided that information to Members of those estimates of...