Michael Miltenberger

Those are all good questions that, hopefully, we’ll get addressed as we do this critical debriefing, as the weather subsided and services restored, and we can take that careful measured look at what happened and what needs to be done to avoid this type of circumstance in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The fundamental approach was that the current... Before we implemented the changes, there was a commercial power support subsidy that was not being used that the commercial businesses were paying the fully burdened cost with no subsidy in the communities, hence some of the power rates in stores and such of $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $30,000 a month. What we’ve done now by setting rates for the thermal communities is we’ve lowered the cost per kilowatt and the benefit now to power commercial businesses is significant and fairly applied and they don’t have to ask for it...

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

We’ll make note of the Member’s wise counsel.

Doing something crazy is not normally a guarantee for any type of longevity in the business that we’re in. I take the Member’s point; we’ve been doing things now for the life of this government in terms of investing in alternative energy in a whole range of areas, including biomass. We have, I would suggest, in most communities, stores that stock and sell stoves. There’s assistance there for people. The question is, and the debate would be, what the role of government is. Is it to go into everybody’s home and say we’re here to put in a woodstove or is it to help people make the right choices...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’ll commit to get that information for the Member.

Mr. Chairman, we work closely with the federal government in terms of estimating and the targets that are set and we have a standard approach that is agreed to by jurisdictions across the country for the benefit of consistency and certainty. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, there are two main areas of discussion. We have suggested how our debt is treated is the debt that is what is called self-financing be treated differently from our normal borrowing practices. By self-financing debt, of course, we mean the money that is owed by the Power Corporation and the Housing Corporation and the bridge when it comes on-line will be mainly self-financing. That is one area. The other issue and area of discussion is going to be when you have a number, is it better to have a specific dollar number in legislation or an agreement or is it better to have a formula...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Margaret Melhorn, deputy minister of Finance; Mr. Jamie Koe, director of policy and planning.

Mr. Chairman, I am here to present the Department of Finance’s main estimates for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

For 2011-2012 the Department of Finance is requesting a total operations budget of $100.784 million. This is a $9.316 million decrease from the 2011-2012 Main Estimates and represents an 8.5 percent reduction to funding levels. The items that effect this change are highlighted as follows:

Excluding the contribution funding provided to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, there is a net increase of $203,000 proposed for the Department of Finance’s operations budget. This...