Robert Hawkins

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...

That’s fine, Mr. Speaker. I’ll just keep trucking along. My concern is trying to find out what the value is on the public record so we can talk about these types of things. The issue I’m really trying to drive at is are there opportunities for other distributors such as the NWT Power Corporation who doesn’t require to make a profit on the distribution rather than cover the cost, and that’s what I’m fundamentally driving towards. What is in the best interests of Northerners, and that’s the issue, is how do we distribute power in the most efficient and cost-effective way? Is there a door opening...

Is the Minister able to speak to the range of dollar value that, for example, our power distributors earn each year? It’s my understanding that they take at least several multi-million dollars out of the year due to profits and they provide to their insatiably hungry companies that are looking for profit. So maybe is the Minister in a position, as Minister of the NWT Power Corporation, with his familiarity with that type of issue and number so we can work from there? Thank you.

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...

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...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Northwest Territories government was to eliminate any outside distributors and, at the time, the reason I ask this question is because I’ve been talking to the department about this one. So, what analysis has been done if we eliminate the outside distributors, therefore we don’t necessarily need a PUB and we roll the NWT Power Corporation into a department? Now, normally you describe this as a hypothetical, but this is work I know the department has been reviewing and evaluating. Where would this take us and what’s the predicted or estimated cost of lowering the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly was an early advocate for the ombudsman during my first term in the 15th Assembly, and then in the 16th Assembly I did question, similarly as the Premier had done, wondering about the value and the challenges put before us.

I often wondered: would the MLAs be putting themselves out of a job by having an ombudsman because people would first think that is the person we should be going to. But over time I have learned even more. I have been given the chance to understand the complexities and particular issues and appreciate how challenging they can be. I think...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to be very clear on the record. I think that there are cases and reasons why we do direct appointments, and I am certainly not against all of them by any means. I want to make sure that’s absolutely clear. I’m only about public transparency, and that’s really what it comes down to. Frankly, my question, lastly, for the Minister of Human Resources would be: Minus the recent devolution transfer of appointments – because some of them, if not all of them, had to be considered direct appointments – what type of direct appointments are we talking about that have fallen...

If it’s provided to committee, of course, as we all know through the various channels, levels and scrutiny we receive, of course, every piece of that information is confidential. What public reporting can be done on this particular subject?