Floyd Roland

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member has pointed out, the Assembly of the Northwest Territories has in the past endorsed this, recognized that. We stand by that. Looking at the date and the time, we feel that is a commitment that still stands today. If Members would like to do something, we would be willing to sit down and have a discussion.

The Member is right in the sense that there’s been quite a bit of work done in the past governments and work with the federal government to identify positions that were in southern Canada, in Ottawa, that had a direct impact and relationship to the Northwest Territories and the three territories overall. We’ve done that work and it came down to identifying a number of positions that we felt could be moved north, and that initiative was pushed along.

I must say that this government hasn’t taken that information and moved it. Our focus has been the establishment of new positions and office that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for raising this concern. The work we’ve done on this comes in a number of layers. First and foremost we had a pan-territorial approach from the three northern Premiers as to making the pitch to Ottawa that the Northern Development Agency needs to be established in the North. Following that and putting that case in, I have worked directly with a number of the federal Ministers to highlight the fact that it makes sense, for a number of the reasons that the Member has raised, that we’re central amongst the territories, that our economic potential is the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 6-16(3), I wish to table the following document entitled Federal Revenues from Non-Renewable Resources in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the alternative energy process we’ve engaged in is one through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee and Members to look at these alternatives. In fact, we’ve done it so that it doesn’t affect the rates, at this time, of how we implement some of the new technologies into our systems. We have to engage with the Power Corp at that level to see how we would do a full implementation. Again, looking at not impacting the rates of individuals. So that work is to be done.

The review itself that’s happening, looking at the Power Corp, the internal process was one of how it operates...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have, quite a number of times when we present ideas and information, met with Members sometimes in committees to try to give information on where we can go. I’m not sure where the Member is at different times, but he’s aware that we have talked about some of these things. We have laid out some of our processes and I have committed to come back to Members at the next stage. We have frameworks in place and we’re working on those final terms of reference. I committed to get back to committee with those pieces. The Member is aware of them. This talking about Bondo and so...

The work that needs to be done in a number of areas, we have heard from the constituents and from this Assembly who said things have to be done. The status quo wasn’t good enough anymore, so the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee looked at the broad structure of rates and how they’re applied. So for example, yes, past Assemblies have talked about one-rate zones. Should we talk about a conservation zone or rate that would be applied equally across the Territory? How would that be taken by the people of the North? Should we in fact, as this government is looking at through this budget...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I met with committee and informed them of the process that we’re undergoing with the ATCO proposal the fact that we have these reviews that are out there, one through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee that was launched, as the Member pointed out, in December through Minister Bob McLeod. The one that reacts to the emotion of this Assembly and that is the NTPC review and the review of the ATCO proposal, they will all take...They’ll be in step in the sense we’re going to do the initial review on the rates regulation subsidy and structure. It is due to report...