Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a matter that has arisen, not specifically with every commissioner in one of these positions, but as an issue with some, and it’s the issue of residency. This is an area that’s, of course, the establishment…. The legislation would fall under the appointment process provided by the Board of Management and the Speaker. I was just wondering if the residency issue will be taken on as an issue in this next coming year, through the Speaker’s Office, through the Board of Management, to potentially update.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, just a quick question regarding…. Although the Chief Electoral Officer doesn’t oversee municipal elections, has there been any advancement on this issue to consider making the offer first to municipalities to oversee their elections through this office?

Mr. Chairman, by no means am I trying to frustrate the Premier on this. The fact is I want to get a sense that this is being dealt with. I can appreciate there’s going to be a point where the two sides will want to discuss this. From his answer he’s basically tried to tell me this is a “talk turkey” situation to deal with this. I’m pleased to hear they’re going to be meeting. I just want to make sure this is going to be an opportunity to deal with this problem. We don’t have to look any further than the NIHB example for how long it takes for these things, in proportion, to get out of hand. All...

Mr. Chairman, taking advantage of widening it due to road stability may be the opportunity to save on requirements for future parking. Again, it’s the spillover problem that has people parking there anyway, and this would just help clean it up a little bit. I would seek some thoughts from the Speaker to see if they can include that in the review when they do the study to widen the road based on stability. My assumption would be that it would only be a few extra feet wide in order both to accommodate the stability and to ensure there is safe passage of vehicles. We parked on one side of that...

Is it foreseen in the near future that this will be addressed?

I appreciate the answer from the Speaker on that. The money that was allocated to it in previous years allowed the Speaker’s Office to go out for tender on this project. Has that money lapsed or been set aside for later use?

What would be considered a normal interest rate fee? Do we owe the Nunavut government any money?

The second question is to the Minister of the NWT Power Corporation.

I would like to request a detailed breakdown by community from the NWT Power Corporation for the last three years specific to:

profits and losses,

distribution and power subsidy, and

the dividends raised.

Please provide any details of a prescribing document that states that the NWT Power Corporation needs to make a profit, and what is that profit based on?

I just can’t imagine what the interest would be on that, even at a modest rate. As generous as we are, has anyone worked out what a normal rate of return on an average interest rate would be on that? What would be considered a fair and reasonable interest rate if we applied it on that money outstanding? Is there any sense of that, or was there any work done to assess that?

Mr. Speaker, we heard a couple of programs, and they’re certainly good. But the private sector is telling me that they need more support, because there’s certainly enough work in their businesses and in the private industries to take on more summer students, as well as other types of programs. The principle, really, on this issue is: is the government making money available so the private sector can help supplement those summer student wages and maybe take on more summer students?