Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. Mr. Speaker, it's well known that the Power Corporation was asked and chose to bid on the Hay River Franchise Agreement. My question is how has the Power Corporation made the determination knowing that they could potentially change the relationship landscape, the business landscape as it relates to power in the Northwest Territories?
Can the Minister explain the rationale behind NTPC, a Crown corporation, going into direct competition with the private sector? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, as is well-known, the franchise in Hay River came to an end and the Town of Hay River, on its own, decided that it should seek bidders for the franchise. One of the bidders was of course the Power Corporation itself. I think there were actually two other bidders. The town accepted our bid, and our sole goal of this was to provide power at a lower rate to the citizens of Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This leads to my second question then. I would like some clarification. What is the Power Corporation's vision for its relationship then with private industry and Aboriginal development corporations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, our vision, the vision of the Power Corporation, is to be provider of choice to our customers, a valuable partner to industry and Aboriginal groups within the Northwest Territories. So that is the vision of the Power Corporation.
I'm getting flat answers, quite frankly, but I'm going to take this in another direction, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during the briefing on Wednesday, the Power Corporation president alluded to work that's being done on energy options for communities. Could the Minister provide some detail on this planning and the rationale for coming up with these options? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corporation is involved in the development of an energy plan which has been spoken of several times in this House, so we are committed in the Power Corporation to, as I say, look at new ways of providing power, keeping in mind our vision of supplying power to communities at the cheapest, affordable and safest rate. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
The president said that there was going to be specific options that communities were going to be able to consider. Can the Minister speak more to the options that the communities are going to be able to consider, and can the Minister describe a strategy for public consultation and involvement as these options are being developed?
Mr. Speaker, this is all tied, of course, to the strategy to which groups will be invited to participate including NUL. So we're hoping to get a broad discussion about where the Power Corporation is going. Certainly, we are looking at more inventive ways and cheaper ways and more energy-efficient ways of delivering power to the Northwest Territories. That remains our goal.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
