Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Justice. Last week, the Canadian Centre for Justice issued three reports concerning violence against women. One report compared sexual assaults across the country. Quebec was the lowest with 64 per 100,000. Newfoundland was the highest province at 229 per 100,000. The Northwest Territories was a shocking 895 per 100,000. I think we recognize that the statistical base may have some effect on those statistics. Reporting success in provinces might have some effect. But, my first question to the Minister, has the Minister had an opportunity to see these reports?

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Supplementary to the Minister. Would the Minister make these reports available to Members, and with those reports a commentary by the department explaining some of those statistics and putting them in some context? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Supplementary, Madam Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. I think this report and other reports really highlight the seriousness of the problem here in the Northwest Territories. All Members supported the Minister and the government's initiative on zero tolerance for violence in the territories. What I would like to know is, what is the Minister's next step? We have a number of initiatives happening in the bureaucracy, but this is going to take some very strong

leadership at the political level. What does the Minister see now as the most important thing that the Minister can do to deal with this?

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

My final supplementary, Madam Speaker. I appreciate that consultation is going on. The Minister is aware that there are countless reports and studies that have been done. I think that we have reached the point where we have to come up with a very concrete plan. The question I will pose to the Minister is, before this House rises, can we expect a comprehensive statement from the Minister as to a specific approach that the Minister and the government will follow to follow up on the zero tolerance policy, with potential budgets attached? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, often times, when one goes before the other, the types of mistakes that are made or the decisions that are made are not to the benefit of any given decision, and these learning experiences are good for everybody. It is difficult for me to answer because I have read a lot of articles that have been put out by others than the Power Corporation itself. My plan is to present, to this House, a comprehensive paper on many of those elements such as the questions that were raised earlier by the honourable Member for Kitikmeot.

First of all, there is a misunderstanding that the Yukon Power Corporation has been privatized. It has not been privatized. What has been done is to move the power corporation under the Yukon Energy Corporation which is all owned by the Yukon government. Yukon Energy then, which is owned by the Yukon government, owns the assets of the corporation, but their present arrangement is that they are contracted out to the Yukon Electrical Company, which is a company that is owned by Alberta Power. So the Yukon Energy Corporation, their power corporation, has contracted out the management of the electrical company or the power corporation to Alberta Power. So this is a present arrangement.

At the time of the transfer, the employees retained their salaries and their seniority, and the employees' pensions were transferred to a new private pension plan. The new pension plan was approved by the federal Treasury Board, and no funds were permitted to be transferred until the Treasury Board was satisfied that the new pension plan was, at least, equivalent to the public service superannuation plan. This has covered all the employees prior to transfer.

Like I said, the Yukon Energy Corporation really is a subsidiary company of the Yukon Development Corporation. I guess one of the things done when they put the power corporation under the Yukon Energy Corporation was that about $15 million to $20 million that the power corporation had made went into other economic development initiatives, such as, I think, the Watson Lake sawmill. So they were able to move the profits from the power corporation into other economic development opportunities. But the dollars that were used, plus the profits in excess of the loan payments made to pay off the YTG debt for the purchase of the assets, are annual dividends required to pay the power subsidy program. So they are doing a number of things, and they can move that around because it is under an energy corporation, unlike the Power Corporation, not being housed under any other development corporation.

So I guess one of the things that we would have to learn from that is whether we would want to move in that direction or not, or deal with exactly what is going to be done with the sale of the corporation, if it should happen, at that time. But I think there are a lot of questions that get raised out of this type of arrangement about whether it is good for us or not. I would hope that all the questions that have been raised in the general public and in the experiences of the Yukon would take into account where we take our next step. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I appreciate that detailed information about precisely what happened in Yukon. I guess I would like to ask the Minister, and I think the public needs to know what is being proposed by the Government of the Northwest Territories and the NWT Power Corporation. As I understand it, in Yukon, the government retained ownership of the power corporation through a holding company, the Yukon Energy Corporation, but it basically subcontracted the management of the electrical company to a private concern, and this, I think, has been described as privatization by the UNW. I would like to ask the Minister for the Power Corporation, if this model, where you would subcontract the management to a private company, is what is being proposed for the NWT Power Corporation? Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I believe that is one detail that really hasn't been taken into consideration or even really been discussed that much. At this point in time, according to the Abbott report, the Power Corporation is to stay intact. It already has all its employees who are situated in various communities.

In the Yukon, because Alberta Power is a very large institution -- I would say it is so large, you can call it an institution -- they really didn't have any need to build up some of the higher technical engineering capabilities that we have in Hay River. They would just import them from their more senior companies. Any area of expertise would just be drawn from a very large firm and brought into the Yukon.

At this point in time, we have the people who we require for planning. It is maybe not a large component, but for the day to day operations. What should be understood as well, is that in the Yukon, it is mainly a hydro energy corporation. There are very few communities on diesel. They have an ability, in a better way than we do, to have lower-cost power generation.

I know from discussions that Yukon Energy has to a certain degree, like the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, improved the level of service since the transfer. They have also invested quite a significant amount of dollars to improve the plants and also to install some new upgraded equipment. But, unlike the Northwest Territories Power Corporation -- and this relates to how a company operates -- the investment and new capital plan has been difficult for them because the cash flow and working capital has been depleted by using funds for other purposes. At this point in time, it's not anticipated that the employees or the work would be sub-contracted and neither, at this time, with the Abbot Report, would there be the flexibility to use the Power Corporation's profits within an energy corporation for purposes other than power generation. Thank you.