Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve indicated previously, the Town of Hay River has initiated a public process through a motion in their council on Monday for a public process to renew their franchise, and we, the Power Corporation, are going to submit a bid sometime before the call for proposals closes on July 3, 2015.

I would also point out that the Power Corporation is a Crown corporation owned by every man, woman and child in the Northwest Territories. We, in effect, have about 42,000 shareholders, and about half of those shareholders are Aboriginal, and about over 3,000 of them live in Hay...

I will limit my comments to making the observation that it’s a public process and I understand that the Town of Hay River has sent copies of the RFP to both ourselves, the Power Corporation, and to ATCO. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The interest of the NWT Power Corporation is very clear that on Monday the Town of Hay River passed a motion to initiate a public process for the renewal of their franchise, and we have indicated that we would take part in that public process. There is no broader issue other than that. I am aware of some of the concerns and angst and heartburn in different areas, in corporations, in board rooms and some of the Members of this House, but they are unfounded and ill-founded.

I was briefly at the gathering the Member talks about, and there was a lot of interesting discussion. I will indicate two things, first that there is an enormous amount of activity already underway by ITI, by MACA, by ENR, in all the areas that we have a concern with in terms of local economies but also with the broader economic issues that we are all tasked with making sure that we manage the $ 1.9 billion budget, make sure our revenues match our expenditures. So, once again, there’s a process in place, as the Member is well aware in his eighth year as a Member of this Assembly, that will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The increase to our borrowing limit, the second one of this government, is part of the legacy that the 17th Legislative Assembly is going to leave for the 18th Legislative Assembly, the ability to have flexibility and choice. We went forward with the request and justification for the increase of the borrowing limit on the basis that we needed to be able to make critical investments in economic infrastructure that will help create the conditions for development that will help spur the economy and increase our tax base and give us more money into our coffers in terms of...

Yes, that factor has been calculated in and we are going to be taking on the community of 3,000 as a rate base, added to our rate base that we never had before, so it’s anticipated that the cost of power, which now pays for that infrastructure, will continue to pay for that infrastructure

There are two numbers that are clearly known. One is the current cost of power per kilowatt in Hay River, which is 31 cents and in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution it’s 21 cents. At this point, what I can say in the House is that it is anticipated that we would be able to significantly close that gap that now exists between the cost of power in Hay River and those in the neighbouring communities. Thank you.

In point of fact, my understanding is that the authority for bidding on franchises is enabled in the legislation for the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. It comes under the purview of Municipal and Community Affairs, and the community of Hay River – and every community has the right in the Northwest Territories – chose to trigger that process on their own behalf after doing their own due diligence on what they thought would best meet their needs and help them deal with the high cost of living and the inequities between the power rates in the neighbourhood that they reside in in the South Slave...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek consent to proceed with second reading of Bill 54, An Act to Amend the Forest Management Act. Thank you.

---Consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Bill 52, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2014-2015, be read for the second time.

This bill makes supplementary appropriations for operation expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Thank you.