Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to pick up from where Member Groenewegen had taken issue today with some of the Power Corporation’s rate review. One of the issues of interest of mine is, is the NWT Power Corporation going to be considered -- in its restructuring of rates, that is -- potentially a new department for the Northwest Territories government. I have spoken on that issue a couple of times and said I think, in the long run, that will give us better accountability, perhaps it will even create efficiencies. My question is directly to the Premier, who is the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation. Is the NWT Power Corporation in a situation where we’re contemplating rolling it into the territorial government as a full department rather than an independent business corporation as it’s being run today?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation itself is established under our legislation, the Government of the Northwest Territories. So through any initiative, any change of that nature would have to be the work of this level of government. The NTPC board, NTPC structure is all put into place. They have not had discussions in this area. They will be getting the work of the review that was done specifically on the Power Corp and be working through that scenario. They go on with the business established under our legislation. Thank you.
I appreciate the answer from the Premier, but the point is you don’t ask the board if they want to dissolve themselves. That would be a political decision by the review team looking at rate review, and one of the analyses out of this process could be when they do rate review, we could probably provide more efficiencies and accountability in the rate review process if one of the recommendations was to roll it into a territorial department per se. Is that one of the issues being contemplated at the political level by someone in charge of the legislation such as the Premier and the Cabinet? Thank you.
We set up a process to undergo a look at rate regulations, distribution of power in the Northwest Territories. We underwent a review process on the Power Corporation itself and we are nowhere close to looking at making that decision. That was brought up earlier, about is there any part of the review that would look at structure and so on. The rate of return is part of the system. The report also suggested the cost to service should be looked at through a number of the zones. So there are initiatives in that report that would allow us to look at overall function of the Power Corporation.
But let’s be careful here. There’s a lot of our folks delivering energy today, keeping the lights on today in the Northwest Territories and providing a service. Let’s not just put questions out there that suddenly the rumour is we are going to go and do something. There are no recommendations at that level that talk about that, but that’s an initiative that could always be taken by the Legislative Assembly. In fact, it’s not the board that would make that decision; it’s this Legislative Assembly that have the acts that establish the Power Corp, the PUB and so on and so forth. So it is this floor, this table that would make any recommendations in that area. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’m reminded of the old adage that the definition of insanity is you keep doing something over and over and expect different results. Mr. Speaker, the issue here really is one of consideration. I didn’t say was that the final outcome of the report, is that the driving force of the report. I’d just like to know if it’s a real consideration, Mr. Speaker. So, in essence, the how would we achieve efficiencies if these types of measures weren’t considered. If it was rolled into the territorial government, we all know that it wouldn’t require a general rate application process or a PUB process; it would require accountability directly to this House, unlike it has now.
So, Mr. Speaker, I’m asking, is it a fundamental consideration. Because otherwise all we’re doing is pushing costs around as opposed to achieving efficiencies. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the simple fact is the issue of power generation across the Northwest Territories has been a major issue for as long as I can remember as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and I started back in the 13th Assembly. There have been a number of initiatives that were undertaken, presented to governments of the past, to take an initiative to try to change some of the way we did our work and delivery of energy across the North, but there was not the will to make that change. This Assembly is now going to be presented with an opportunity. Do we have the will to make the necessary change? Some of that will be a shifting of the numbers, yes, but it is structural in the sense of how we deliver power and how we share the cost. Is it truly a territorial entity across the North? I believe it is and we should treat it as such. Those other discussions about can we see other efficiencies, well, I’m prepared to go to committee with the review that’s been done and discuss what options are there that we may look at as an Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we can’t change the rates unless we do something different. Okay. Now, whether that means we change the rates to increase or change the rates to decrease, the reality is we have to do something different to change the rates. So, Mr. Speaker, if this analysis of this power rate review does not fully contemplate the option of moving the Power Corp into its position in line with the rest of the departments of the territorial government -- in other words, make it a full territorial department -- would the Minister commit that this is a consideration and costing that we could take on as an Assembly to figure out is this the right direction for the Corporation? Because I believe it is. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we’d have to undertake a very in-depth process to look at are there potential efficiencies there. I believe the report that we can have discussion on with Members will highlight the comparisons of the Power Corporation with other jurisdictions of similar size and design in the sense of diesel and hydro, some of the mix for going forward. Again, nothing stops this Assembly from taking on initiatives, whether they’re addressed in those reports or not. But simply, the fact is, let’s look at some of those things.
The Member just stated that there are some fixed things and unless we change the way we do business, those things remain. Well, the things that will remain, whether it is within a government department or the corporation as it stands, is the rate base we have and that is the customer base, the cost of delivery of service, that is our fuel, that is our hydro and natural gas and other areas. So those are the things that we have, as well as our employee structure that’s out there that is under a union. The Government of the Northwest Territories is under a union. So all of those things would have to be taken into consideration, but, ultimately, that is a decision that can be made by this Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
