Michael Miltenberger

I appreciate the Member’s comments.

Mr. Speaker, I’m sure NorthwesTel would actually look forward to an opportunity to be invited before committee. They’re a private operation that runs... They have contracts; they have services they provide. We have a lot of vested interest with them. We are going to take steps to see how do we avoid this in the future to get a better idea of what steps they’re going to take to address some of the concerns that the Member has raised. At the same time, we’re going to proceed with our plan to see about setting the pieces in place that will allow us to proceed with trying to get a fibre optics...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this point we’re budgeting with the numbers that we do have recognizing, for example, that the price of fuel is now back over, depending where you look -- either the Brent Crude or the West Texas -- it’s either $100 or over $110 a barrel. We anticipate that there’s going to be upward pressure in costs in everything we do, including the provision of diesel generated power.

NorthwesTel manages its own day-to-day operations. We are involved through a number of different areas, but there will be a critical debriefing done. We recognize that there was a significant portion of the Territory that was cut off from communications. One of the reasons, in fact, that we’ve put out an RFP to do some initial work on the fibre optics line up to Inuvik is to, in fact, try to better address some of those issues. But to keep in mind, though, as the weather events around the world increase in extremities and to the degree of how intense they are, that it’s going to be a problem...

The Commercial Power Subsidy will cease to exist as it’s currently structured. What was the number for $267,000 back in 2009-2010 under the actuals was how much we were actually spending at the time. It was an undersubscribed program for a number of reasons and when we looked at the new electrical rate structure there was a clear recognition that we would want to come up with a different way to provide some type of support in the smaller communities and the thermal communities for the commercial power rates, because this particular way that it was dealt with wasn’t that effective, hence what...

I agree with the Member that the whole issue of biomass is not a singular event, but it’s a process that we’ve embarked on as a Territory and it’s going to take time to get it implemented fully. We’re setting up systems to work with communities and individuals, institutions, other governments, community energy plans. Making sure we deal with some of the value-added pieces when you look at pellets. We are doing, and we’ll continue to do, a significant amount. Sixty million dollars is what this government put towards alternative energy. A good portion of that has been tied into trying to improve...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under program delivery details it’s characterized as interest expense.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a significant number of things that the government is doing. I agree with the Member that there is nothing stopping individual families from going out and installing a woodstove, especially in the larger communities where they have access to the supply and they can get the woodstoves insured. With our Biomass Strategy, we have converted a lot of our own buildings and other communities’ buildings to biomass. We’re, in fact, looking at work on the value-added piece with pellets. We’re looking at what’s the best technology to use in combined heat and power in some...

Mr. Chairman, this particular item I believe it says it is in relation to the Housing Corporation, not the Power Corporation.

Mr. Chairman, there are two main reasons these numbers are built on the 2009 tax year when we were in the midst of the significant economic downturn. The Member is correct; they have an ability to reach back three years, as well, when they are doing their taxes to work out the most advantageous arrangement to themselves. Thank you.