Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few questions for the Minister of sport and recreation from my Member’s statement. As I mentioned in my statement, we do not have a ski club or a ski shack in Fort McPherson.
I’d like to ask the Minister, are there funds available that the community can access to have that in place and also to have the proper equipment to maintain ski trails?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, we are very proud of our athletes’ achievements here in the Northwest Territories, and I think it’s been proven in the past that a number of our athletes are competing at an international level.
As far as the ski club goes, the community does have it within their means to provide that sort of infrastructure if they choose to. We can, as the department, work with the community to see how they can best use their infrastructure money that we give them to help with that. As far as equipment goes, there might be opportunities for some purchase of equipment with the money that they receive too. But we would be more than happy to work with the community to point out some of the options that they might have.
It seems like only the regional centres have ski clubs in this territory, so is this government willing to work with the smaller communities to make sure that they do have sufficient funds to have proper ski trails which can be used also for snowshoeing and even walking trails? We need proper equipment. For example, snowcats and groomers. I know those are a little costly, but these are needed. We have world-class sport athletes here in our territory and we need to ensure that they have the proper facilities in our communities.
As a government we do support the achievements of our high performance athletes. We try to assist them getting on to a national scale. Once they get on to a national scale, then there are other opportunities there for sponsorship. I take the Member’s point that in the communities they need to try and develop their athletes. We’ve seen a number of communities where they have strong snowshoeing programs because it’s a community pushed event.
If the community of Fort McPherson would want to do something on a ski trail and that, again, they have it within their means and our government will work with them to identify some of the options that they might have at their disposal. The regional centres do have ski clubs because members of the communities get together and they push for a ski club and try to find any assistance they can. But we will be more than happy to work with the community to help them with some of the options that they may have and what they may have at their disposal as far as spending goes.
Sometimes communities don’t have that as their priority. For example, the ski trails, as I mentioned. Can an organization within the community… Right now we have volunteers that provide these trails for our athletes with homemade groomers, yet we have world-class athletes. We need to ensure they have the proper equipment.
Will the Minister work with one of the organizations in the community to ensure that we have proper equipment?
Yes, we will work with the community and help them identify some of their options. If there’s a group there that’s interested, we will work with them to help them identify some of their options.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’ve on occasion made statements regarding the Dehcho Process. I support the Dehcho Process mainly because I’m from the Deh Cho and I’d like to see it succeed, and at some point it will have a settled agreement between the Dehcho First Nations, Canada and the GNWT. Some people might be familiar that the negotiations have, in one perspective, advanced since 1921. There are people that believe negotiations just started recently. But what is important is that there used to be a spirit of being flexible and open, at the same time respecting the differences of, perhaps, governments and First Nations people, but with the intent and spirit of trying to be creative and trying to look at some unique models.
My question is to the Premier. There is the federal offer of land quantum, plus the GNWT as well have a different perspective on it. But my question is simple: Why is our government currently offering the Dehcho First Nations less land than Canada is willing to offer, by at least 2,000 square kilometres?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member asked me the question so that I could present the facts so that he can provide the correct information when he talks to his people.
We’ve been working for over two years to find a way to resolve some long-standing land issues with the Dehcho First Nations. We created a working group of senior officials where we spent over two years where we did come up with an agreement on how we could move forward. Those were rejected out of hand by the Dehcho First Nations leadership. I might add that the Government of the Northwest Territories increased the offer substantially that was made by Canada in 2007. That was rejected out of hand by the Dehcho First Nations.
Why, in the Premier’s opinion, shouldn’t the Deh Cho land quantum be at least equal to the Tlicho’s adjustment for population?
The GNWT offer and what’s been negotiated in negotiations with the Dehcho First Nations is the most favourable ever made in the Northwest Territories, if not Canada.
It’s pretty clear that the Premier in his opening statement said that my people are from the Deh Cho. The Premier is from Fort Providence. The Premier is a Metis from Fort Providence. He has an opportunity to help advance the Dehcho Dene and Metis of Fort Providence and the Dehcho First Nations to come to an agreement. At the same time, I think this negotiation is sliding perilously into positional negotiations for both sides to become more entrenched and no movement will happen and people will walk away. I don’t want to see that. I’m sure the Premier does not want to see that as well. The question is: What happens after February 20th? Why would the Premier threaten to leave negotiations with the Dehcho First Nations if they cannot agree with the GNWT’s current position? Is that the path of trust and respect?
I’m glad for the opportunity to clarify statements attributed to me. We have not threatened to walk away. All we raise is the fact that despite all these best offers to the Dehcho First Nations, they’re all rejected out of hand, and so we should take that into consideration going forward.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just an observation from being part of leadership and negotiations for some time. When two leaders meet, what happens is that there is a spirit and intent, and that’s the spirit of the treaties that have been negotiated for a long time, and it’s based on honesty and integrity. When two leaders meet, they make a pact and an understanding, and when they walk away they ask their staff to implement it, and sometimes the staff or the department doesn’t believe in those decisions, and I think that’s the problem.
Will the Premier revisit his government’s strategy with a view to making headway instead of causing a breakdown of negotiations?
I would be glad to hear any suggestions from the Member. This is the best offer that’s ever been made and it’s been rejected, so we will continue to work through the land claims table.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to this opportunity to get some clarity on some of our power rates here. The cost of living burden continues to weigh down on the everyday family, as we all know and we certainly hear about this. The question really continues to come to me is this McLeod government continuing to do the best that they can, and the question that arises is they’re concerned they’re not. Everybody knows the three components to the power issue, which is generation, distribution and certainly the customer access.
So I guess the question really comes down to, while we continue to squeeze generation and consumer efficiency is at an all-time high but power rates continue to skyrocket, what is this government doing with the distribution issue of the power rates here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a distribution system that’s been in place for some time. We have the Public Utilities Board that has been operating very effectively and we will continue to follow the policies of this government. From time to time we will review it to see if those policies should continue to be in place. Thank you.
I look to the gallery and my Yukon colleagues when I say this, Yellowknife is number one, and I say this as we have the highest power rate bill, be it Whitehorse, Iqaluit and Northwest Territories. Yellowknife, we have the highest power rate. So, we’re number one. The problem is, I don’t want to be number one anymore, nor does anyone in this city.
So the question now becomes why do we have southern distributors here in the Northwest Territories when we have an option to start squeezing this problem towards a positive solution. We have a southern distributor working here in the Northwest Territories who has an insatiable appetite for profit at a time when people’s cost of living factor has gone through the roof that they can no longer carry.
Would the Premier agree it is time to re-evaluate our distribution policy by maybe closing the door on that problem? Thank you.
I’m not sure what the Member means when he says we’re number one. All of the power and the communities and the rest of the Northwest Territories would be very pleased to have the power rates that we enjoy here in Yellowknife.
As far as power distribution, we manage it very carefully through the Public Utilities Board. Every rate increase goes through a regulatory review process, and as we go forward as a government we have the ability to review our policies to see if they are in our best interest to move away from the existing distribution system. Thank you.
When is it better than now, in this particular case, for us to start reviewing and maybe eliminate the process we have in place? We could eliminate and refine our distribution process by getting rid of this by allowing NWT Power Corporation to manage the power distribution to our communities by getting rid of the third-party process through the franchise agreement.
What could kick that process off, and I want to hear the Premier asking what path and journey can we take to finally have a true discussion about lowering our power rates because we could lower them 10 cents a kilowatt, in that range, immediately, if we reorganized our power distribution.
I would be very interested in seeing what kind of mathematics he used to come up to that conclusion. As a policy, we decided to go with the existing until such time as we decided to do otherwise. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to call a point of order on the Member for Hay River South for accusing my last comments as all lies. I can refer to several sections, such as I felt that it’s imputing ill motive and in some ways some might even describe that as insulting, bad language. So we could spend time going through all of these, but they were a statement. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mrs. Groenewegen, do you have something to say on the point of order?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. No point of order. Thank you. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s time that we start working on this particular problem. If I described it as a sandwich, we keep shaving down the two pieces of bread without worrying about what’s in the middle and we’re ignoring this problem. Millions of dollars through the PUB process get acknowledged that turn into profits that go to this southern company. Even the Town of Hay River is saying that they need to do business differently.
So I call upon this government with a little action maybe the Premier could explain to us here clearly, not just to me but all Northerners, how we can review this distribution process so we can work to achieve the same goal, making living affordable here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
I presume the Member has some hard and fast figures that can prove his research in that the price of power will decrease by 10 cents a kilowatt hour, but on this side we don’t have the luxury of making those statements without thorough review and due diligence. Communities have the authority to decide on their distribution. Hay River has a franchise agreement that will come due in November 2016 and we know that everybody is interested in reducing the cost of living. We will consider what Hay River is doing, we would look at it, taking all of the policy issues into consideration on this very complex issue and there are a number of very complex policy issues that we would have to look at. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last couple of weeks we’ve seen many announcements coming from the executive office setting some new course directions for the 17th Legislative Assembly.
Surprisingly, some of these new plot-a-course settings were the first to be heard of by Members, some escaped the due process of the House and others were never properly vetted by standing committees. So my questions today will be for the Premier.
On January 28, 2015, and with only limited notice to Regular Members, the public was made aware of the creation of a volunteer Mining Industry Advisory Board. This board will apparently advise the government on mine regulations and environmental and social standards. Although this may be a creature of the Mineral Development Strategy, this announcement bypassed the vetting and due process of standing committee. Can the Premier indicate why? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know the Members opposite read every piece of paper that we present and it was prominently identified in the Mineral Development Strategy. Thank you.
I’m sure committee will be commenting on that one. Again on January 28, 2015, the public was made aware of a meeting between our Premier and Prime Minister Harper describing a discussion on sustainable economic development. Part of this discussion involved the completion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway but, more importantly, an all-weather road into the Slave Geologic Province.
Can the Premier indicate to the House when and by what process has the substantiation for this all-weather road into the Slave Geologic Province ever been discussed with Regular Members of the 17th Assembly? Thank you.
I know he’s a new MLA in this 17th Assembly. It was started talking about it in the 16th Assembly and it’s been around ever since, so we’ve been talking about it for at least five years. Thank you.
Thank you. Unfortunately, this was not a priority of the 17th and I can’t make commitments for the 16th or prior Assemblies.
On January 29, 2015, in keeping with surprises, the executive office announced the GNWT is exploring the feasibility of an energy, transportation and communication corridor study along the Mackenzie Valley. Again, to be clear, this was not for any specific infrastructure project but a new bold direction that did escape the vetting process of the Assembly.
Can the Premier indicate to the House where does this feasibility study fit into any of our current framework or action plans for the 17th Assembly? Thank you.
We’ve been looking at a corridor for years, I think for over 40 years since the first Arctic gas pipeline was talked about, and we think that now is the time to go. At the appropriate time, when we have the process clearly laid out, when we have accessed all the funding sources, we will be in a position to more fully describe this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know if we can continue to dredge up old priorities and squeeze them into the 17th Assembly.
Finally, on January 29, 2015, the Premier’s speaking notes at the North Star Gala in Ottawa were made public. Upon review, it’s clear the Premier was there to promote an economic and resource development agenda. Mr. Speaker, I’m very okay with this; however, what was missing from the tonality of this address, and I’m sure most Northerners would agree, there was a need to lower our cost of living in the North.
Can the Premier indicate why no reference to lowering cost of living was mentioned in Ottawa? Thank you.
We always talk about cost of living whenever we go to Ottawa, we just don’t put it in all of our press releases or communiques. We know that we talk to most of the Ministers about the fact that we’re the only jurisdiction in Canada whose population has been declining, and the biggest reason for that is the high cost of living. We’ve benefited from the lower costs of gasoline and heating fuel in the last six months, at least in the larger centres, and we have talked about what can be done taxation-wise or otherwise how we can work with the Government of Canada to reduce the cost of living. The borrowing limit I think will go a long ways to assist us in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the NWT Power Corp Minister about the rates and the profits noted through the PUB process for each distribution area.
Is the Minister able to speak to those types of profits that are made by our franchise agreements that are struck so they can make power distribution through our communities? I’ll leave it up to him to provide what level of detail he’s able to start with and we’ll kick it off from there. Thank you.
