Floyd Roland

The commercial rates, as the Member has discussed, is one of the high cost areas of doing business in the Northwest Territories in our more remote communities, especially in the thermal communities that don’t have access to hydro possibilities. Besides expanding that and trying to create that, the existing framework needs to be changed. We are looking at potential ways of doing that that would lower the commercial rates in our communities. We are hoping, again, that as we bring that work forward, Members will support it and we can make the necessary changes going forward and that will, again...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member stated, on the closure of this grocery store, this is something we would preferably not have happen in the Territory. Unfortunately, the cost of electricity in our smaller communities is high, hence the review that was done by the government on the electricity rates regulation distribution subsidy process. We are hoping to come back, as Minister McLeod is the lead on that, with solutions for the next fall planning cycle.

Specifically to this piece, there is a lot of work that has been done in trying to work with the customer here. But it comes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that area of building relationships with aboriginal leaders and groups and governments across the Territory, we continue to do that. We continue to build on that. We’ve had the discussion about caribou at that table and we will continue to have discussion about a process forward in a number of key areas as well. This is one of those areas and we recognize that we need to continue to build and strengthen on that relationship.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion was passed about the caribou situation. There are a number of things that are happening. As the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources responded in the previous session, there is work going on with the co-management boards and with the Wek’eezhii board, as well as setting up a process that includes the Yellowknives and NWT Metis in that process coming up as an overall management plan similar to what we’ve done in areas where there are land claims and co-management bodies in place. We’re moving down that process.

In the interim, I know the Minister and...

Under the existing structure that we have to operate in as a Power Corporation with the rate bases as they are, the collections that must be brought in to ensure we keep the corporation in a healthy state means the more arrears or accounts that are in arrears, it affects the rest of the customer base in that area. That is why we have to look at a different way of operating and how we structure ourselves as the Power Corporation. That includes setting direction as a government overall. We will look at the process and information there. I know there were many steps taken to try to help out, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Canadians and NWT residents will catch our breath this week before renewing our nationwide Olympic celebration with the opening of the Paralympic Games on March 12th.

These games are not just Vancouver’s games, but Canada’s games. They are, and have been, a celebration of the Olympic ideals and a showcase of Canada’s diversity and cultural richness in front of a global audience.

As a proud contributing partner to these games, I would like to take the opportunity today to reflect on the NWT’s presence and participation at these games and, in doing so, to recognize in our...

I think in addition to the work that we’ve done on those big files, and Members have just worked through our capital files and capital budget where we’ve had the largest budget in the history of the Government of the Northwest Territories on our capital program; cost-shared dollars with the federal government on the number of plans. We’re one of the most advanced jurisdictions on working with the federal government on those stimulus plans and implementation of that.

On the additional areas, if we’re aware that the federal government is getting information or preparing for expansion of its...

Thank you. I know the Member is interested in travel routines and accompanying Ministers. Maybe we can include him on our next trip. We’ll see about that. The issue, more importantly, is the follow-up from there. Now this is a federal standing committee that sets its own criteria, that puts its own program in place. We don’t influence that, we were just asked to make presentations. They posted publicly their events. We got the information to Members, yes, the day before, but it was a slight oversight on our part.

Follow-up to the meetings we’ve had, we follow up specifically on our initiatives...

One of the things that was said early on in the life of this government is we need to be clear and we need to be strategic and go and work on specific initiatives. Previous governments have been known to go down there with a wish list that was a mile wide and a foot long type thing. We needed to narrow it down and focus on specific areas. We shared that with Members. It was around the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline and expansion of our hydro. Those are the main issues that we’ve been focusing on and putting our energy into.

If we’re aware, for example, that the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Notice was given, a day before mind you, it was a little late for the input, but a notification was sent out to Members about that, which included the comments of the three departments that were going to be made. We were given five minutes each and as the Member would be familiar, their processes are much stricter than our processes, where a speaker is requested and given a timeslot, the idea of the subject area they’re interested in, and five minutes. The area that I had opportunity to speak on was the aboriginal affairs intergovernmental relations piece, in which I...