Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, the subsidy’s consumption level of 700 kilowatts hasn’t been changed since 1988. For the number of users that rely on this subsidy, more important are the months of November, December, January and February.

I’d ask the Minister of NTPC in terms of these subsidy rates…. Since it will be a while until we’re going to have some discussions on changing it, in the interim could the Minister tell me that the Power Corporation is looking at some initiatives and incentives for people in our communities down in the Mackenzie Valley in terms of putting in some meter-reading smart devices that...

Mr. Speaker, in terms of the issue of privatization and how we go about it, the mayor of Norman Wells has said: “Why don’t we sell the Power Corporation?” — in terms of having our own communities look after energy issues in our regions. Would that type of discussion happen with our Assembly, with our communities, as to how we best get energy issues on the table that would seem to help our people in our region in terms of privatization? I know it is a wide spectrum. What things could the Minister bring forward to this type of discussion with our region?

Mr. Speaker, 42,000 people in the Northwest Territories own the Power Corporation. This government acts on behalf of the shareholders. We have a Minister that takes care of the Power Corporation. We now have a new committee of Ministers — the energy coordinating committee.

I want to ask the Minister of the new coordinating committee, Mr. McLeod, in terms of the mini hydro initiative. I talked about privatization and partnerships; it’s a very complex issue. I would ask the Minister if the mini hydro initiatives in Whati, Lutselk’e and Délînê are on target, are they going to be supported by this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to join my colleagues in talking about the high energy cost situations in our small communities, which Mr. Krutko, the Member for Mackenzie Delta, alluded to.

I would like to talk about the concept of privatizing our corporation. We have a Crown corporation. There are a number of arguments that say: don’t privatize; don’t get into community ownership; we’re too small or we’re not well equipped to have a Crown corporation go into the private sector. I think that’s totally wrong. I think you have to give the ownership back to the people.

There are major...

Would the elders be involved in terms of carrying this traditional knowledge into the government in the system we would have? Would there be a place for them to bring this traditional knowledge to the forefront?

Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate the hard work the Minister is doing in terms of moving this type of issue forward for our own people. I’m very happy. I would like to ask if he can tell me, if he’s privy to the information, how much concrete strength we’ll have on a government-wide approach in terms of putting traditional knowledge into the government’s present policies and regulations and making it stick, in terms of his report, with certain programs and services.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to this information getting pulled together by the NTPC to look at the community.

I would ask the Minister again: in terms of some solid commitment to the people in the region can these meters even be looked at by the Housing Corporation to see what they can do to implement this in public housing? Give us something to take back home. Give us something that even the private homeowners can have to be responsible for in terms of the power. That’s what I’m looking for.

I was going to mention that it’s something we could do a little with the Arctic Energy Alliance: sharing responsibility with the community and our own Power Corporation. There’s going to be lots of discussion.

Again, I appreciate the Minister’s response in terms of something we could look at. Would it be something they would consider down in the Mackenzie Valley within the next couple of months? These meters are out. They’ve been used in B.C. Can we start in some of the smaller communities up North to show that we are working with them, so people in the small communities can say, yes, we are...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister sent a letter to the Members indicating the process to go through this Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee in terms of how we’ll come to a discussion paper by next spring. The Minister has indicated that this will happen. I am grateful and I look forward to that; members of my region look forward to that.

I would like to ask in the short term, between now and springtime, what we can do to help our people. When we leave here, they are going to ask us what we’re doing to reduce the cost of energy. To share the power, can the Minister, through his committee, look at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly look forward to the discussions that the Premier will have with his colleagues in the aboriginal governments. Is the Premier also looking at how they assemble certain provincial leaders? I know they support us regarding certain initiatives up in the northern parts of the provinces that are in similar situations and have been left isolated. There are no roads going to some of the communities; there is a high cost of living in some of the provinces. Is there a game plan that maybe one day the partners in the Northwest Territories, along with partners in Canada...