Floyd Roland

We’re hoping to hear something soon, but I can’t comment on the Prime Minister’s office and their timing of a decision there. At one point we thought it was in a matter of weeks, so we’re waiting to see if they follow through on that. The legwork has been done. I think it’s important for us to keep in contact with the appropriate parties, different Ministers. My letter went in to Minister Strahl and I’ve also spoken with the Minister who has involvement in northern development, and that would be Ms. Aglukkaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to welcome Ministers and Members back to this Assembly.

Much like the spring that has taken over our North, I sense a new energy, a feeling of rejuvenation and a renewed spirit of commitment to the vision, goals and priorities that we set for ourselves almost two years ago.

At that time, Mr. Speaker, we spoke with confidence of realizing a Territory filled with strong individuals, families and communities each sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous economy.

We envisioned a future...

Mr. Speaker, as I’ve committed to you and just recently followed up, I believe a letter is going to committee on the latest update there looking at some of those functions and the future definitely would be part of the conversation and discussion we’ll have. I think, one, let’s be clear, as we talk about partnerships in the energy generation distribution in the North, that’s the process we’re being engaged in with that. We’ve got these other two big ones that we want to do first and the biomass piece, the alternative energies are even a part of those processes as we go forward and need to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for that question because that gives me the opportunity to say that the Power Corp is involved, to a large degree, on a number of fronts to try to bring best efficiencies forward from going from diesel to gas turbines, for example, in a number of areas. The biomass work and the work that the Members have done and will be coming back to that committee with their work and the report will help us as we move forward on some of our initiatives that Minister Miltenberger spoke of earlier.

As the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we’ve lost the message in the sense of what it was all about. It was getting a discussion about what we could be in the Northwest Territories. Could we have a diversified economy? Could we have respect for our cultures across the Territories? Should we have the best education system across this country? Can we have a clean, affordable, abundant energy to help reduce the cost of living in the Territories? Things of that nature. Things that I think we can look at and say almost every government, whether a municipal government, to a certain degree, to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll thank the Member for raising that question because it is a good one. It is an area of discussion that’s been held a number of places across our Territory, from youth to seniors to businesses. This is not an organization. There is no company. There is no mandate established. What it was, was an invite to participate that went out to quite a number of people that were invited and those that accepted showed up. I was invited. I originally wasn’t going to go but thought, well, if there’s a discussion about what might happen or what the possibilities are in...

Mr. Speaker, if the Member had approached me sooner, we probably could have started a discussion to see if we could make some adjustments to our planning scheduled around the sitting days. As I have committed, I am prepared to sit down and engage Members to see if there’s a willingness to do that. I believe, again, the motion was an Assembly one. If we could, even myself, as a statement, or through that, we could look at doing something of that nature. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do comparisons on the cost per kilowatt hour. It is very difficult, though, to find another jurisdiction like the Northwest Territories except, for example, Nunavut, and they’re even more predominantly dependent on fossil fuels. We have a mix of hydro and diesel. The Yukon has even more hydro than we do. Comparisons to southern jurisdictions is very different because they have a much larger rate base and that’s what also affects and drives our costs, but that shouldn’t stop us from looking at the future possibilities of what we can do as a government to try and stabilize rates...

I can’t speak for the last general rate application, if we had people there and what role they were playing in taking in the information. The Power Corporation is our corporation. We are the sole shareholder. We’ve been aware of the information. The Member is right; through the PUB, it is a rigorous process that it goes through. We have also heard from Members of this House and people across the Territory when they have to deal with the bump of rates. Whether it is a rate rider or a fuel stabilization rate rider or low water rate rider or just a general rate application increase, we have heard...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ATCO proposal we have not made a final decision on that. That is why we are undertaking the review. Thank you.