Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier is responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. The Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Premier has just said, could be brought under the umbrella as a department of the Government of the Northwest Territories thus removing the need to have it as a regulated utility through the PUB, the whole cost of service way of trying to figure out rates that generate profits for this government. Is it possible that such a transition could take place without absolutely no downside to the establishment as it stands now, as a separate entity, with a board of directors, with its own union? Is there any accountable downside of something like that for the people who are at the front lines? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Mr. Speaker, without looking at it in depth as to, for example, the union agreement that’s in place with the Power Corporation and how that would work with ours, that’s an issue that would have to be looked at. Do the structures at headquarters match the structures of a department? That would have to be looked at. But we’ve not done that type of work. The review of the energy rates regulations piece did not specifically address the corporate structure in that sense. It talked about a number of structures within the Power Corporation, the delivery. The issue of the PUB, again, that’s under its own legislation. We would have to look at the interaction, if there should be a PUB or not and what role that would be or would the Government of the Northwest Territories play that role as well. There would be substantive change then being looked at and we would have to make sure that if we were going to go down that path, we are prepared to follow it through and make sure we did it right.
Right now, and just for the record and for our employees out there, that hasn’t been discussed at any table at this point, but ultimately, as I said, that is the authority of this Legislative Assembly, to look at those and direct that work being undertaken in that area. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, when you look at Crown corporations that are owned by government, there is always some good reasons why that activity is carried on at arm’s length from the government. In the example of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, it had to do with that corporation’s ability to receive money from federal programming and so on. There were good reasons that you could articulate why it needed to be arm’s length from the government. Is there any such reasons why NTPC needs to be a Crown corporation at arm’s length from the control and supervision of this government? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I go back to the earlier Member’s statement that Mrs. Groenewegen had made earlier about when the Power Corp first came in, it used to be the Northern Canada Power Corporation. Then we took it over, our specific area within the Northwest Territories. At that time, the legislation was adopted and put in place and, in a sense, kept it at its level of a corporate structure. Since then there’s been little change, in fact, over the 22 years around that corporate structure. That is probably one of the things that would have to be looked at if we were to do any work in that area. Thank you.
I’m very familiar with that time. I was on the original board of directors of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation before NCPC had even moved from Edmonton to Hay River. So I’m very familiar with the thinking at the time, and it was considered a great gain for the GNWT to acquire this asset. But, you know, times have kind of changed a bit now. Now we are looking at costs that are really quite a burden to the people, and we are quite consumed, as legislators, about the cost of living. I think it is time to re-examine the model that we have in place. Because if there is anything about that model that adds more costs, which then need to be passed on to the consumers, I think we owe it to the consumers to at least consider that. Would the Premier agree to that undertaking and that exercise? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the whole process, as the Member pointed out earlier, between ourselves as a stakeholder or as the shareholder, the Power Corporation itself, our hydro entity, there are a number of partnerships out there now around our hydro with First Nations, as well, and aboriginal governments. There are a number of factors that would have to be considered. Again, that is the PUB side of things that is on another piece of legislation. When we talk about general rate applications that go out around delivering power across the Northwest Territories, there is promise made that that is fairly intensive, and across the exercise we go through if there are any changes to be made, we would have to look at a number of things in this area. As we go through the steps of reviewing the energy report that came back and our response that we are preparing to make, that Members would be included in that process. As we go through the Power Corporation review specific with Members, that is another avenue and opportunity we can look at that. If this Assembly and the Members here are willing to take a look at and put some resources towards that, that is something that I would sit down with Members to hear just how much energy we should put towards that and what level of work and detail is required. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have often felt kind of conflicted on this whole issue of NTPC, because I am very interested about, and concerned about, the well-being and the valuable contribution of the folks at head office, being as most of them are either my constituents or Mr. Speaker’s constituents. At the same time, I am listening to the people who represent communities where people are literally burdened under the weight of the cost of this service. We have heard from the NTPC Review Panel. There isn’t a whole lot we can do to change the way things are operated at headquarters that would translate into any significant savings for those people. That is why I am sort of stepping back from that and looking more at the big picture and the structure. I believe it would be an exercise at least worth looking at changing the mandate, having the Power Corporation controlled, I suppose, like any department by a deputy minister. I would assume and hope that... I can’t imagine that the GNWT UNW wages would be any lower than those that are earned at the Power Corporation. I don’t think it would be a significant difference. I don’t see there being any downside of at least looking at this. I am saying all of this because I don’t want there to be fear again into the folks who work at the Power Corporation, but I know they too are interested in getting as affordable power to the communities as possible.
I would like to ask the Premier what process would he suggest for undertaking looking at this particular very specific option. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think there are a couple of avenues. One, first of all, I would agree with the Member about our staff complement out there delivering the power that residents use today and in the future. They are very dedicated and keep on trying to provide the best service in a challenging environment. In fact, I think the record shows on outages and so on that we actually rank very well compared to some of the jurisdictions.
The issue of where this might be able to go, again I think there are a couple of avenues, as we talked with Members around our response to the energy rate regulation piece, around some of the cost structures and the delivery side as well as the NTPC review itself as we sit down and look at our response as we go forward on that would provide a couple of avenues. Then we can go forward on that basis. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
