Louis Sebert

As mentioned earlier, the Power Corporation follows section 16.3 of their terms and conditions, and if I might just refer to that, that states:

"Where accounts are not paid by customer before the expiration of a notice given to the customer pursuant to this section, the corporation may forthwith disconnect the customer from service and may refuse to reconnect the customer for service until the accounts in arrears, a security deposit payable under section 5.7 and 5.8, and a reconnection fee as set out in schedule C are fully paid. As an alternative to disconnection during winter months, the...

Yes, the local housing authorities are made aware of any collection efforts which affect their clients and their assets. This notification is provided prior to any notice being sent out to the clients.

Mr. Speaker, in responding to oral question 7718 (3), I referenced the Bauer report and stated that I thought royalties received by the government of the Northwest Territories would be approximately $83 million a year. I have reviewed the Bauer report and the main estimates and would like to take this opportunity to correct the record. According to the main estimates, nonrenewable resource revenue for 20152016 was $58,346,000, and for the following year was $63,284,000. I apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I do not have the main estimates in front of me. I do know, however, that there is likely to be a significant decline in these revenues. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I think we're all aware of the great contribution that the mines do make to our economy and society. We know that as a gross figure, as I understand it, looking at the Bauer Report, I think there was an estimate of approximately $83 million paid in royalties to the Government of the Northwest Territories in the 2017 year. Plus, they also pay many other taxes, land leases, and so on, so they do make a huge contribution.

I think that, before I make any commitment to have the royalties broken down per mine, which I understand is the request from the Member opposite, I would have...

I'm not sure if that request is for a personal donation or a government donation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a complex issue; of course, I certainly would want to discuss this with my colleagues. My understanding was that, in the last year, there were approximately $83 million of royalties obtained from the mining industry in the Northwest Territories; however, there is not an individual breakdown from individual mining companies. I think in the past they have resisted that for the reason that they didn't want to be sharing that kind of information with competitors, because royalty regimes and rates are based often on gross production or profits. Traditionally, in the...

Yes. Many of us, along with staff, did have the opportunity of going to Guthrie House, and I think we were all impressed by what we saw and heard there. Two site visits to the Guthrie Therapeutic Community in Nanaimo, British Columbia, have been conducted. We met staff and inmates, and, as I say, I think we were all impressed from what we heard from both staff and inmates. So, the corrections service has established a committee to examine the feasibility of implementing a therapeutic-community model for addictions in the South Slave, South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, so we are researching...

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no doubt that many of those who do end up incarcerated do have issues with trauma and addictions. I can advise that Corrections staff have attended training and workshops on trauma-informed practices to assist them in working with inmates who have experienced trauma, which would be a pretty high percentage of those who are incarcerated.

I can also advise that, along with facility psychologists, Corrections has an addictions counsellor on staff at South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, and traditional counsellors and liaison officers are on staff at both SMCC...

No, I realize this is a serious issue. When the previous questions were asked of the Minister of ITI, I was looking at something called the Bauer Report, which does go into some of the very complex issues surrounding this whole issue of royalties. I can advise that I will be looking at that further and discussing that report and its findings with my colleagues.