Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take the opportunity today to speak about an issue that has arisen in Hay River which has caused a great deal of concern. It may seem like a small thing to this government, but the timing of this particular ad, the NWT Power Corporation is recruiting for a new president.
Recently Hay River has seen the departure of some senior management folks at NTCL and then to read an ad in the paper recruiting a president for NTPC saying that this individual can live in Hay River or Yellowknife reverberated through the community with some very negative reaction.
The good folks who work in headquarters at the NWT Power Corporation have been through quite a bit of uncertainty, troublesome times maybe. The ATCO proposal which came to light considering the possibility of changes, it’s all about change and it creates unsettledness, it creates uncertainty. The transition to a new president, the transition to a new board chair, then the review of the NTPC itself, all things which can be justified. But at the same time then to read an ad in the paper to say that the new president can live in Hay River or Yellowknife, I’m sorry, but in a small community like Hay River, that sends a very large message.
Now we know that a lot of work of the president and CEO is conducted with the other subsidiaries of the Power Corporation and some of that work occurs here in Yellowknife. We all know that the former president, Mr. Courneya, did have to spend time in Yellowknife to oversee those subsidiaries and those activities. But the fact is he was there many, many years. He was part of the first team that came up when NTPC was repatriated from NCPC in Edmonton, when that first group came to Hay River. Mr. Courneya was part of that. He has been around there for a very long time and he has clearly been a resident of Hay River.
Although this may seem like a small thing to the government, I hope it’s an oversight of some kind. It would really make a lot of people in Hay River happy today if I could get a commitment from this government that the new president for the Power Corporation that will be recruited will be a resident of Hay River. I will have more questions for the Minister responsible for that at question period today.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
