Mr. Speaker, when you’re back in the community, a lot of people come to you. They talk to you about cost of living. It was mentioned in the Budget Address yesterday. Cost of living is a great concern in the Northwest Territories, especially, as my colleague from Mackenzie Delta pointed out yesterday, the cost of energy.
One of the biggest complaints I get from back in Inuvik is the cost of power and the power bills and how they’re distributed. The power bills have been coming. I was talking to a constituent and he was saying it’s getting to the point where you almost can’t afford a mortgage anymore. By the time you’re finished paying your mortgage and your power bill, there’s almost no money left for food.
The billing is coming out of Hay River now, where it used to be done out of Inuvik. They are behind. I was talking to a constituent this morning who’s had five power bills in two months because they’re trying to catch up and they’re trying to make up. What kind of an organization is this?
The folks back in the Mackenzie Delta and in Inuvik and the Beaufort-Delta are getting a little frustrated with having to constantly deal with the Power Corporation and the way they do business. There’s some serious talk; they’re looking at options for pulling off the grid. Your biggest customer base is in Inuvik and the Beaufort-Delta.
If they were to pull off the grid, that would seriously affect the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. If they can supply the power themselves, then we don’t mind having to pay into our own community. But the folks in the Beaufort-Delta are getting these outrageous power bills. They’re getting too many power bills.
I can just see the next power bill. They’re going to have a rider on it, because they had to send out all these pink slips to remind you how they’re going to fix your bill. We’ll get a rider for those, like we get a rider for everything else. It’s just very frustrating for people who constantly have to struggle to make ends meet.
Everything is going up. We talk about the cost of living being a priority of this government, and yet we do very little about it. The subsidy the government provides helps, obviously. Without that subsidy, times would be a little more difficult. It’s just a frustrating time for all people in the Beaufort-Delta to have to keep paying these outrageous power bills.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
