Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a follow-up to my Member’s statement earlier today, I would like to reference from edited Hansard, March 11, 2015, where Minister Miltenberger stated, “Depending how we evolve in terms of distribution and generation, we have to look at things as I raised previously, the role and relationship of the Power Corporation. Right now it is a stand-alone power corporation with a board. Given our close working relationship and financial investment, is that the best structure, could it be structured more efficiently and effectively in any other way?”
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister elaborate what he meant when he stated these comments in the House? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of the Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has shown himself to be a very vocal and aggressive defender and supporter of powerful money, multinational interests headquartering outside of the Northwest Territories and clearly today he’s going to vent his spleen on the Power Corporation, which is, I think, a very good corporation that we’d all be lost without.
On the issue of dividends, let’s make the distinction between the Power Corporation and a private company. The people of the Northwest Territories own the Power Corporation. There’s one shareholder. Rather than take a dividend, we reinvest all the money back into the system in the Northwest Territories to make sure we provide services. Over time we have had a relationship with the Power Corporation that has become closer because there has been significant things that have happened that if we did not have that relationship, would have led to very, very significant increases in the rates. Let me specifically talk about the money we put in the life of this government to cushion the shock of the increases due to diesel costs. Let me talk about the $20 million we put into low water that would have had to have been covered by anybody providing that service.
So, that relationship has become very close. The Auditor General has pointed out that that relationship has been close and that we should look at how we should change our reporting relationship because of that close working relationship. The Power Corporation is the main vehicle for energy policy for the Government of the Northwest Territories and, in many cases, social policy in the Northwest Territories. When we work to do alternative energy, when we work to minimize our greenhouse gas emissions, when we look at LED lights across the Northwest Territories, when we look at converting Colville Lake to solar with batteries to cut our diesel and our greenhouse gases, when we look at the solar in Fort Simpson. Those type of things, they’re a part of the government’s policy, energy policy, carried out on our behalf by the corporation that we own as a collective.
So, those are some of the musings and the Auditor General has flagged them for us, as well, in a very practical reality in terms of how do we account for the money that the Power Corp spends in a relationship with the territorial government.
I’m a supporter of the truth, transparency and accountability, so the Minister of Finance can characterize all he wishes. I’d like to go back to November 7th to the Northern News article where the Finance Minister was openly musing about the NTPC’s demise, suggesting that NTPC be taken over by the GNWT and, as he stated, “If we hadn’t given them this $80 million, I shudder to think what the rates would be.”
Again, can the Minister elaborate why he was so keen on threatening to dissolve the NWT Power Corporation? Thank you.
I wasn’t expecting to dissolve the Power Corporation. The Power Corporation is a critical vehicle for the territorial government and its energy policy. However, the relationship has evolved over the years. There was a time, many Legislative Assemblies ago, when there was a dividend required from the Power Corporation, but as things have changed, cost of energy has gone up, the decision was made to not require the dividend, to reinvest whatever money they have back into keeping the costs as low as possible.
We have had to engage with the Power Corporation clearly in a way that it doesn’t make it as stand-alone as it would be in some other jurisdictions and we have other configurations that we live with. For example, we have a Housing Corporation that has no board that is part of the territorial government and is our vehicle for delivering public housing, market housing in the Northwest Territories.
So, post-devolution, as we evolve, we have to look at that relationship with the Power Corporation, and as we look at the borrowing limit and we look at generation initiatives and who is going to drive those and the direction that the government is going to provide to the Power Corporation to do the things that the Legislature and the government needs done, that means a close working relationship and, once again, point to the fact that the Auditor General himself has pointed out that we need to change how we account for our relationship with the Power Corporation because of that close working relationship. Thank you.
Now, months later, the Minister in his own press release of May 26, 2015, clearly and boldly supports NTPC’s participation in an RFP process in Hay River, and he points out this “could potentially lead to lower electricity rates.”
To the Minister: Why the flip-flop? In November, you’re shuddering to dissolve the Power Corporation and now you’re praising their ability to somehow lower electricity rates. I think the people are a little bit confused. Can the Minister explain this flip-flop?
The government has been very consistent in its approach to energy and to the Power Corporation to how we deliver things, how we deliver power, our emphasis on the cost of living, and it’s very, very simple. The issue that the Member refers to, we have the proof before us. You have one community at 31 cents per kilowatt, you have two neighbouring communities at 21 cents per kilowatt.
Can we effect a positive change? Yes, we can. I believe that we will significantly close that gap if that opportunity is presented to the Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Too bad it’s a done deal, as it appears to be here. The NWT Power Corporation, by its own statutes, is more than able to submit a bid for an open RFP process. However, this week we clearly saw political interference and action on our Minister of Finance responsible for NTPC, and our Premier jointly endorsed a ticker tape parade press release in support. The question we need to ask is why. Why would this Cabinet need to endorse and intervene with an open public process? Can the Minister explain this?
Some would suggest that intervening in a process that’s already underway would be meeting with one of the proponents after the public process has started, as has occurred. However, the issue here is very clear. It’s a political one. I’m the Minister responsible. I’m very well aware of the political sensitivities that this issue has, that if the Power Corporation would have gone ahead without political due diligence we would be in a considerably different situation. Then we would be getting pilloried and vilified and hectored for different reasons. We have covered the bases. We have looked at the issue carefully. I took it back to Cabinet. Cabinet looked at it and said, “Power Corporation, carry on with your business.” We went to committee and we’ve talked to them about that. We wanted to politically, as the shareholder, make sure that we were in sync with what the Power Corporation is technically able to do on its own, but politically it made only eminent sense to have us touch those bases.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
