A concern I am trying to raise is that as we talk about equality and we talk about trying to achieve quality of housing across all territorial government boards, agencies, commissions and departments, yet, we have a board here, the Power Corporation, which has a different rental scheme and different subsidy scheme for their employees. I want to ensure and hear from the Minister that the Power Corporation is going to consider making the corporation's employee rents and subsidies equal to other government employees.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I believe it is the board's intention to bring it in line with what we are doing. They are ahead in the more established communities, but I believe the Power Corporation is in the same type of situation as we are as a government, particularly, they have inherited a situation which they intend to correct. The intention is to bring it in line with what the territorial government is presently doing in the new rental strategy which was announced just recently.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, with regard to the new initiatives on access to housing. You are looking at a program in which an individual could eventually own his own home in five years or the corporation could take it back. Has there been any discussion with regard to that initiative and the delivery of power to those communities? On average, I pay on a budget of $180 per month for power. It does matter if it is summer when I do not use it, it is at that rate year round. We look to ensure that new access to housing program will allow those people to own their house. We do not have some sort of power regime for those people.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gargan, I believe you are talking about equalized monthly payments. You said you pay $180 a month irrespective of what month it is. We do not have that in place now, but we are looking at that type of method of payment for our customers.

With respect to people who own their own homes, depending on what community it is, they would fall into the domestic rate which we charge in that particular community for non-government customers. The non-government customer rate is lower than the government customer rate.

Thank you, Mr. Green. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, the Power Corporation being a corporation of this government, I am just referring to the fact that under the new access to housing program which this government is delivering we do not get caught up with so much power and utility bills that eventually this individual might have to return his house after five years as a result of all these utility factors. If this program is to succeed, there has to be some breaks allowed for those people who are going to access that housing program. That is all I am referring to. It is a good initiative on the part of the government that they have 1,000 applications, but at the end of five years 800 may have to return their houses because they cannot afford to keep them. I wonder if there is a safeguard for those people so this government ensures those individuals would own those units in five years.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Right now the Northwest Territories government provides a subsidy, which the Member is aware of, equalized to Yellowknife rates. So, every home owner outside of Yellowknife receives a subsidy, other than I believe Fort Simpson and Fort Smith, the rates are higher than Yellowknife. The subsidy still exists, and whether the government would agree to further subsidize that would be a decision the government would have to make themselves. The Power Corporation is in the business of selling power. As the Government of the Northwest Territories is a main shareholder, we require the Power Corporation to give a dividend to the Northwest Territories which is passed on to the customers as part of a subsidy. So, the decision would have to be made by the government in terms of what type of subsidy you wanted to provide to home owners. The Power Corporation is just in the business to sell power, but subsidies are government business.

Thank you. Are there any general comments? Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can only use my own example for the power we are receiving, but it has been increasing. Several years ago I was paying $130 every month and it has now gone up to $180. So, it is going up. I suppose the utility boards govern Northland Utilities as well as the Power Corporation. In Fort Providence I do not think we are being charged Yellowknife rates because we are lower. I am saying it is $180 still, so presumably if you are looking at Yellowknife, then you are possibly looking at $200 on the average per person. So, that is high. Under the new housing regime, if a person cannot afford to pay for power then how could this person own his own home? It is a good housing initiative, but the government should be looking at ways of assisting to ensure that after five years the individual owns his own home.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

I believe that was a statement for the record.

Thank you. We are discussing the NWT Power Corporation. Are there any further general comments? Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not have any general comments but I do have a general question to do with the heavy dependence of this utility on petroleum, oil and lubricants and so on. There had been a proposal that this particular function be moved out of Yellowknife and placed in Hay River, the argument being that if it were under the Power Corporation this would be a logical place for it. However, eventually the decision was that perhaps that would not be in the broad general interest of the public so the decision was made to move it to Rankin Inlet. Does it really matter to the Power Corporation, does it have any impact or does it make any difference where that particular function is performed, whether it is in Yellowknife, Hay River or anywhere else. Does it have any impact on the operations of the utility?

Madam Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the only impact it would have is if the cost of the commodity goes up as a result of the move. Where it exists is not relevant to the operation of the Power Corporation because the Power Corporation's interest is to buy fuel which it requires at the least costly price possible.

Thank you. Mr. Lewis.

When the consultant recommended that POL be placed in Hay River under the Power Corporation was there any consultation that took place with the Power Corporation because ideas usually come from somewhere. They usually have some origin and I am wondering if they came from the Power Corporation.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the idea of trying to develop a better delivery of fuel commodities initially came from the government. The Power Corporation was approached to see if it made any sense, as in many communities the Power Corporation has its own fuel storage tanks, and the Government of the Northwest Territories has its own fuel storage tanks for general use, to consolidate the two and have better use of the delivery of the system in all of the communities. Sometimes we have a shortage of tanks. The idea first came to the floor, I believe, when there was a proposal or capital project in Coppermine a number of years ago, and Mr. Red Pedersen suggested that this should be looked at because the Power Corporation had some fuel storage ability and so did the government. It was quite a large project. I think it was something like $2.7 million to build new tankage. Initially this is where I recall the discussion coming from and beginning to take shape. It was then proposed to the Power Corporation. In the end it was felt it would be better handled in another way and the Power Corporation was not interested in taking over the responsibility.

Qujannamiik. Are there any general comments? We are on page 14-10, information item on the NWT Power Corporation. Is this committee agreed this item is concluded?