Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the Ministerial Benefits Policy.

Document 7-16(3), Ministerial Benefits Policy, tabled.

I do find myself in a strangely awkward position when it comes to talking about the NWT Power Corporation. The headquarters and many of the good folks who work at the Power Corporation are constituents of mine and of yours and we believe are trying to do the best they can under the circumstances, but the challenges are great, and as I said, I believe we need to look at every possibility.

To the suggestion that the Public Utilities Board may not be relevant in our jurisdiction: I wonder if I can get the Premier to comment on that. I believe that they do play a useful role. They are arm’s length...

Mr. Speaker, I’m all for, as I said earlier, leaving no stone unturned, but there is one stone you could turn over. Under it you would find the Robertson Report. We asked exactly these same questions seven years ago. We engaged the services of a gentleman named Jim Robertson, who is highly respected in the private sector and had been Chair and president of the Power Corporation when it was repatriated from the federal government to our territorial government.

I think what precipitated that review at that time may have been a struggle for the franchise. Maybe the NTPC wanted to take over the Hay...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the situation gets very grave in terms of rates in the communities, we have heard communities of larger sizes say, “We could go to another power supplier,” or “We could do better standalone. Let’s just get away from the Power Corporation.” To the issue of whether or not the Power Corporation holds the monopoly for the provision of power in the NWT community, we know that Northland Utilities has a group of communities that they service in distribution and in power generation. When it comes to larger communities like Fort Simpson, for example, and they say, “You know...

I hope it will be a big part of it, Mr. Speaker, because to undertake a review of the scope and the comprehensive nature that is being talked about here today would be costly and time consuming. I think there were some very good recommendations in the Robertson Report that have not been acted on to date. I just hate to see redundancy and spending money if we don’t have to. Of course, there is always a bit of a political hesitancy on some of these things to make major moves.

I’d like to ask the Premier today if in fact, given the seriousness of the situation with the power rates out there in the...

Mr. Speaker, this is a very complex subject as we struggle here in the Northwest Territories to find the most efficient means to deliver reliable energy to the communities of the Northwest Territories.

Again we’re faced with the remote and rural nature of many of our communities, the far distances we have to haul fuel to feed diesel generators, the disparity that’s created when some communities are able to be supplied from hydro — all of this within the context of a relatively small territory in terms of population. We struggle with all of these things, but we need a very comprehensive review...

Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to the questions I asked yesterday in the House, the public is always very interested in what MLA pay and benefits are. To that end, the independent commission on Members’ pay and benefits is struck at least a once every term, and the recommendations go into effect for the following government. Members have an opportunity for input into that as well.

What I was trying to question the Premier about yesterday was the enhanced or additional benefits that are only available to Cabinet Ministers. I was trying to get the Premier yesterday to confirm — and I’ll try again...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every year a large amount of money gets thrown on the proverbial table of the Legislative Assembly. For our approximately 42,000 residents, $1.2 billion in round numbers goes on the table. Departments and deputies and their Ministers elected to oversee them put together business plans which form the basis of our annual budget. Our territory is diverse in so many ways, and although our resources are great, so are the many needs of our regions, communities and residents.

It’s our job as the stewards of the public purse to spend our resources in the public interest in the...

That’s all. Thank you.

I really do appreciate the Premier tabling this, because this goes toward one of my issues with transparency. However, not everything that I want to know as a Regular Member is contained in this tabled document.

I would like to know if the Premier, in the spirit of transparency, would be prepared to table the results of the review that took place of the ministerial benefits policy in the 15th Assembly.