Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that this dialogue we are having today on the Taltson expansion and the delivery of hydro to the diamond mines is a very good discussion. The Premier has been doing an excellent job of responding to these questions. I would bet you the people out there in the Northwest Territories listening to this are getting a much better understanding of how this whole thing is working. I have been trying to listen to it through objective ears. I think we are accomplishing that.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot deny that the diamond mines have been a tremendous asset to the economy in the Northwest Territories. They have brought jobs. They have spent money. The expansion of the Taltson and the construction of the new transmission line would also bring tremendous economic benefits to the Northwest Territories during the construction phase. The power to the diamond mines would definitely reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That is also a good thing.
Mr. Speaker, what I hear my colleagues saying, if I can put it in this kind of analogy, is that we have this tremendous hydro resource in the Northwest Territories, but the only people who can afford to access it are entities such as the diamond mines. It is like having a banquet and we own the banquet hall and we are putting on the food, we are doing everything but we can’t afford to buy the ticket to come to the banquet because we don’t have that kind of resources.
The diamond mines have got the money, the power purchase agreement. They have the money, but what we are asking for our people who want us to be involved in businesses that require cheaper power and for our residents who could have their cost of living positively impacted by the hydro is we are asking, other than the 30 percent ownership of the GNWT and the dividends, is there any other way that we can configure this so that we could pick up benefits for our residents and our small businesses along the way. We just want to in some way benefit from this resource. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think those benefits in a number of ways are felt throughout our communities. For example, the IBAs that are signed with the mines to do that. More importantly, through the contracts that the mining companies have in a number of our communities, through the growth of our communities, because we have new residents who moved into our communities and bought homes.
It was not too long ago when we looked in our communities and Hay River would be one of those where the housing market wasn’t as strong, has now turned around and is healthy. I wish I could say the same in a number of other communities.
I think when we look at those pieces to try to find the benefits, there are a number of factors and that would be for our corporate tax, for our personal income tax that flow into our general revenues. The other issue which becomes a problem for us is if we looked at connecting a new grid to our existing rate base. The cost that would be borne by that rate base is too heavy. For example, right now we are living off the life of industry in the past that has provided hydro now to our communities. We have benefited largely from that, but if we had to replace those facilities purely on the rate base of our customers now, that would be very difficult indeed. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Premier went on to elaborate more on the benefits of having the diamond mines here. I am not arguing that at all. It is a tremendous benefit to the Territory. Hay River, Yellowknife, the IBAs, the many benefits that we have realized from the development of these diamond mines is unquestionable. However, we also have amazing hydro potential. What the Premier is saying is that we do not have the ability to finance that or pay for that for the private customers and residents of the Northwest Territories, but this single customer base by way of the diamond mines is the only business case that can be made for the distribution of additional power from the Taltson. Is that what he is saying? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, without a customer at the other end, the project itself from a government perspective is unviable unless we are to get a huge influx of cash from the federal government or if we at this Assembly were to say take a portion of the dollars and put it purely towards this project.
This business case has been built on a customer; a number of customers in the sense of the mines. Future development, for example, and the Member has raised this issue of Avalon going forward, is important for us and looking to the future, but until we know if they’re actually going to make a decision to proceed, we have to weigh that with the fact that we know there’s a customer in place now.
The potential for our hydro development is to sell that power to a southern customer base is another option, but without a grid from southern Canada up here, again that is not economical for us. The future can spell that out for us and we have to keep those open. That is why I have directed and had our staff looking at having discussions between the Minister of ITI and companies like Avalon as well.
Let’s just say going forward that our 30 percent interest in this project, in this business case as the Premier speaks of it, if the dividends from that flow to this government are significant, is there any way of channelling, designating, allocating that dividend to do something to explore green and affordable energy options for other residents and businesses in the Northwest Territories?
I thank the Member for that clarification. In a forward looking position with PPA signed, with energy flowing, with the dividend being paid, and that’s how we would be able to do it. Right now through our Power Corporation, for example, we received a dividend to help offset our Territorial Power Support Program. We could use those funds as a dividend and target it towards alternative energies and enhancing that throughout the Northwest Territories. That is a possibility that we could do that as a shareholder in this partnership and draw down that cash and use it for things of that nature.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
