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 government in terms of reducing the cost of energy in their communities? Then we can look at some form of partnership, maybe privatization, in terms of that type of initiative that would bring the Power Corporation in line with the true meaning of partnerships. Would the Minister let the people know that these initiatives are on target, they are on the go, and we are going to fully support them?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, as a government we have released a number of discussion papers. We have an energy priorities paper that we have released, which identified all of our priorities. We are now entering the second phase, whereby we will be coming forward with business plans in which we will identify the resources necessary to undertake the initiatives we have identified. If the Assembly approves, then we will have the resources to be able to continue with these very important projects.
I look forward to the plans and to the reports in terms of the Assembly and the priorities on the initiatives. There are many initiatives set up by communities to own power. We are sharing the power, sharing responsibility with our communities — the same thing with the Power Corporation. Now it is the time to give that to the people, share the power with the people.
The question I have for the Minister in terms of this initiative is: would the Minister look at similar projects they did in Whati, where power information, educating the people in terms of how we best conserve, generate, save power in the community…? Whati did a very wonderful project in terms of conserving energy with the youth and elders. Is that something we’re looking at in terms of this committee — going down to Mackenzie Valley and saying: “We’ll share the responsibility; what we are going to do is educate you on what types of initiatives we can do to conserve energy in the North”?
Mr. Speaker, certainly we want to work with the small communities. Recognizing the high cost of energy in communities and as we roll out our business plans, we expect to have working with the communities be a large part of it.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. A short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
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, I too was at the meeting where we heard a number of mayors suggest that we sell some assets. These are the kinds of questions we are asking as we are undertaking our review. I think we have to be very careful. Some of these suggestions could have serious repercussions. If we’re going to privatize our electrical generating companies — and I also hear other Members saying we should have deregulation…. If you look at other provinces where they have had deregulation, where everything is in the private sector…. I am not saying it is a bad thing; our department has the lead for privatization as well. But we need to find out from the public how they feel about it. As we undertake this review, we will take everything we hear and then we’ll come forward with recommendations.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. A final short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
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 initiatives such as having smart meters put into the communities? If they’re getting close to 700 kilowatts, they would know that it’s time to start unplugging certain appliances so they can save money. Right now we have lights on, and we don’t know. Would the Minister look at that on an interim basis in terms of implementing a program like this?
We are undertaking our review shortly. We’ll be coming out with a discussion paper. I think it would be of great assistance for the community leaders and people to tell us what their concerns are and how they would like to see us operate. We’ll be coming forward with those short term/long term solutions through the business planning process. In the longer term, with the results of the review and feedback and direction from the Members here, we would look at making whatever changes would be required, including restructuring, new rates, what have you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
