Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is never too late for this McLeod government to be reminded about what is truly important. Even when they pay little attention to whatever advice Regular Members offer to share, I continue, once again, to feel the need to remind this government about the great crisis of our time.

The crisis I speak of is affordability. It’s known by many names, all of equal value, but whatever name you choose to use, it is always the same problem to the same families.

If you can’t afford to live, there are very few – ridiculously few – options for people to turn towards. The cost of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m really glad that the Minister described it as an essential service because that’s very important. We all know that the government, or I should say the Power Corporation through the government is working to create generation of power as cheaply and efficiently as possible. We know without more customers it’s difficult to continue getting it any cheaper without, of course, technology as well.

We know customers are encouraged through energy efficiency programs and encouraged to reduce their consumption, and that’s a very important element, but the distribution side...

I want to thank the fine, old Minister because he was calling me young Member yesterday. So the very old and elderly Minister of NWT Power Corporation of pointing out the budget dialogue that he read. By the way, I followed it keenly word for word, I enjoyed reading and I will enjoy reading it for years to come if I ever get sleepless and have to find ways to cure that.

---Laughter

On a serious note, though, it’s my understanding that some hydro communities are subsidized. Rather than pointing out a particular hydro community, one over another, maybe the Minister can put officially on the record...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s an honour to recognize constituents in this House, as every Member enjoys. I would like to recognize Pertice Moffat, who is a constituent of Yellowknife Centre. I would also like to first say thanks to the Status of Women Council for the excellent initiative that they launched. I often have said to get more women elected, you have to get them to campaign and this is exactly what it’s doing, getting people out there and giving them the right tools. So, specifically, Lorraine Phaneuf and Annemieke Mulders are constituents of Yellowknife Centre.

Finally, I want to...

One of the particular problems I’ve noted is that power, in my view and the view of many others, by the way, including the mayor of Hay River, Andrew Cassidy, is power, in our opinion, should be delivered a lot cheaper than it is.

Competition could be argued as a good thing for everything, but maybe not, as well, but the argument I usually see is competition is good. So the question for the Minister of the NWT Power Corporation is: In their capacity as an organization, why have they not bid to provide the distribution services in these types of communities that do have franchise agreements in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know that the trappings of progress may be marching forward in a way that not only are helping us but on some days they put us in peril. You’ve often heard the peril argument from Mr. Bromley, but that’s not what I’m here to describe.

The benefits of progress sometimes provide us the opportunities such as power and being able to turn your lights on and the great opportunities that they create.

My question for the Minister of the NWT Power Corporation is: Can he explain in simple terms how power can be supplied to a particular community in single digits, such as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today because I want to draw attention to yesterday, which was World Cancer Day. February 4th each year is World Cancer Day, and it’s an important day that we all must acknowledge.

Yesterday might have been World Cancer Day, but the truth is, every day is cancer day for someone or someone’s family. Just look around us. Even this Chamber has not gone untouched. We have people in this room and we even have people in our gallery who have overcome the struggle of cancer.

Cancer is not just an individual disease; it is certainly a family one. Whether we know them...

Any savings is certainly good. Usually when Members approve a supplementary appropriation, we usually say goodbye to the money because we never see it again. The issue really is about accounting, and I’m glad to hear it’s going to be drawn down by bills and actuals.

When can the territorial residents and, more particular, when can the Members see the accounting of at least this first year? It’s difficult to predict next year, but when can we see the accounting and results of that particular money, because we want to make sure this money is being spent on what it’s intended for. Who knows where...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my good colleagues here, I too wish to recognize one of our favourite territorial constituents, Mr. Anthony W.J. Whitford, and he certainly was one of the people I was thinking about as those who have survived the day-to-day struggle with cancer.

As well, I’d like to acknowledge Darrell Beaulieu, the CEO of Denendeh Development Corp. As well, he is our BDIC chair and we could be talking about his resume here all day.

Sitting next to him is Margaret Gorman, who probably is the lady that makes it all happen and I’d like to thank her for attending, too, today.

Knowing the rules of the House as I do, I can’t speak to a specific example made in committee once, but the deputy minister said if they have money left over for a particular initiative, they just keep it. So that’s the point of this exercise and why I’m asking about this particular money, to make sure it’s accounted for properly. If all the money isn’t required – we went on good faith to support it – we’d like to see what isn’t used and returned to the good balances of the people of the Northwest Territories.

As far as reporting it, I’d be personally satisfied if you could report it when it’s...