Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, I do think the Premier’s visit to Hay River went some ways toward explaining this government’s position and what we’re trying to achieve by examining the ATCO proposal that came to our Premier’s desk.
However, the wheels of government turn slowly and there’s been several reviews related to electricity going on. There’s been the rates review that the folks have taken out to the communities on the road. Also, there’s the NTPC review itself, and then, of course, the review of the ATCO proposal. So although we did have that communication that’s almost two months ago now, and I would just like to, for the benefit of the NTPC employees in Hay River and across the Northwest Territories, get an update as to where we are at on the review of the ATCO proposal.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was indeed a pleasure to travel to Hay River and meet with the Power Corporation senior staff, as well as all the other employees, and the town council, as well, around this issue.
Things have moved slowly. We are working on a number of initiatives prior to getting right into the ATCO proposal itself. As the Member has pointed out, we’ve just, through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee, been doing the wrap-up on the rates regulation piece that’s out there, we’re about to send off information to Members about the NTPC review specifically.
In the meantime, we’ve had our senior staff begin to have discussions with ATCO in a very preliminary way of just discussing the proposal put in front of us. But there are no negotiations of that sort. We’re looking towards the fall time, late August or September, before we can get anything substantial done on that proposal.
As that team of deputy ministers looks at that proposal and considers it from a business analysis perspective, to be perfectly clear, can the Premier confirm for us that if this proposal had merit and if we were to proceed with it, that in fact it is not anticipated to be, or in any way anticipated to be, a sell-off of NTPC, but in fact a partnership with the private sector through ATCO?
The Member is correct. The proposal and the discussions that have taken place today, and even reviewing this, it is a partnership approach that we are looking at and, again, we have much work to be done before we can get into that level of discussion. I should also add that we have committed to continue communications between the town council and the employees, and working through the employees through the board. We’re hoping to get some correspondence just to give them an update as well.
That was actually my next question. I was going to ask how we were going to ensure that the ongoing communications and up-to-date information is available to potentially affected parties. Certainly NTPC is a huge presence in Hay River and extremely important to our community.
In the negotiations that could take place -- I know I’m not supposed to ask hypothetical questions, but in those negotiations -- I mean, it’s quite possible that the retention of the current NTPC employees in a merger type of arrangement could be part of the negotiations.
The discussions that we’ve had to date with the Power Corporation staff, that issue of employment came up, concern around that. One of the things I shared with the staff at the Power Corporation head office was just that we are looking towards maximizing our employment numbers, in a sense, because it only helps us overall when it comes to our status and our Formula Financing Agreement, as well. So that is always a part of the consideration as we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also, just to confirm that if at the end of this analysis process there does seem to be merit in this partnership with the private sector for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories, including those who already work for our present utility, that there will be an opportunity for those points and those merits that could be achieved would be brought back for a decision of this House.
The idea, the concept, the work that needs to be done and the meetings following that will definitely have to come back to Members of this Assembly as we decide what the future may hold and what the possibilities are as well.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
