Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Braden is ringing a bell and Ms. Lee is crowing and…

---Laughter

…I just want to stand up and sing a good song. Mr. Speaker, I want to take the first available opportunity today at the reconvening of session to thank a number of people.

Leading up to the Christmas break, we had the Minister of Justice, the Honourable Charles Dent, come to Hay River to meet with community leaders with respect to plans for changes in justice services in Hay River.

Subsequent to that, Premier Joe Handley also came to Hay River to meet about numerous items; the most pressing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I remember some time ago getting into quite a debate in this House with Mr. Dent with respect to religious education in schools in Hay River. I would just like to confirm with the Minister then that this is a public institution and so if a faith-based organization or a religious organization, a church, for example, wanted to offer a course through Aurora College, I trust that that would not contravene the policy as he’s laid it out here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did notice that there was a fee attached to taking this course. I would just like the Minister’s assurance that if there are not enough participants who sign up and this is not a break even, that this government or the budget of Aurora College is not administratively or financially subsidizing this program in any way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to the motion today, as well. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to take a slightly different approach to this. I think everything we are talking about here today in this debate has to do with treating the symptoms of a much larger issue. I don’t stand or sit in judgment of anybody who finds themselves addicted to drugs of any kind. Mr. Speaker, when we talk about treatment and we talk about wholeness and we talk about wellness of our people, we as a government take some great amount of pride in always avoiding the subject of spirituality. We...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I think it would be a very good time to do a review of that. I don’t think that the territorial power support program is adequate when it comes to the support for small business. We hear this from the small communities and, of course, this always precipitates discussion about a single-rate zone. Mr. Speaker, I have my own thoughts as to whether or not applying a single-rate zone is the solution to this problem. I think that there are other things that could be done. The one gap I recognize is with the small business support. Could the Minister please indicate what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for Minister Roland with respect to the Territorial Power Support Program to offset the high cost of power in the communities that are on diesel generated power. Mr. Speaker, this program has been in place for a while now and it is an attempt to level the rates for the small communities. I believe for residential consumers it’s to bring the rates down on the first 700 kilowatts of power consumed in a month, and for small business for the first 1,000 kilowatts of power used. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what the government has done...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and at the same time thank the Hay River South Pages for the excellent job they have done serving the House and the Legislative Assembly.

---Applause

My Pages are Kevin Storoz who is a Grade 9 student at Diamond Jenness Secondary School in Hay River and Michael Morgan who is a Grade 8 student at Diamond Jenness Secondary School. Also, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mikey’s mom, Wendy Morgan, who is in the visitor’s gallery today. Wendy is celebrating five years in my office, not so important as the fact that she just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister commit to taking a look at this territorial power support program, perhaps even working with Members on this side of the House to address this? I think it’s very timely right now, I think it’s fairly safe to say that there are going to be some price riders coming into effect, and I think particularly we need to address the business support. I think that the cost of running a business in small communities is hindering economic development and I see this as a good solution. Will the Minister commit to coming forward with a process and a plan to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the Territorial Power Support Program, as well, because the rate is already set, the consumption of subsidized power is set at 700 and 1,000, as I previously mentioned. Anything exceeding that is going to, if the rate for power goes up, impact residents and businesses quite significantly. I’m wondering if the Minister has given any contemplation to how we might address that. Has the Territorial Power Support Program been reviewed lately to find out if those are realistic levels; 700 and 1,000? When was the last time the Territorial Power...