Qujannamiik. The honourable Member for Inuvik.

Have any contracts been signed or other types of agreements been made for this government or our agent, the Power Corporation, to purchase future megawatts of power from the Dogrib Power Corporation?

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Finance.

Yes, there are agreements between the Power Corporation and Dogrib Power Corporation, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Inuvik.

Will the Minister disclose the value of those agreements?

The honourable Minister.

Sorry about that, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I don't have the details of that contractual arrangement between the Power Corporation and Dogrib Power with me. Certainly I could provide that to the Member and let him know what the term is and what the conditions are of the contract between Dogrib Power and our corporation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

Yes, I would appreciate that information not only for myself but for the public as well because the reason for my question is that an issue was raised by my colleague, Mr. Ballantyne, on the costs of division. The project is under way and I assume within five or six years or however long, it's going to start generating power and any contracts, agreements, liabilities or, in some cases, an asset to one but a liability to this government, has to be considered when we're discussing costs, assets and liabilities of division. That's the reason for my question. I'm just trying to get an idea of the magnitude that's involved and the amount of potential liability to the government.

Qujannamiik. The honourable Minister.

I understand Mr. Koe's concern and I think he's correct. In this particular instance, Mr. Chairman, this is clearly almost a sort of Yellowknife issue whereby the power centre that is going to buy that power is going to be Yellowknife. We can clearly define that this $25 million is going to be directed at that particular project, it's project-specific. I agree that as a government now governing all of the Northwest Territories, we're taking on a liability and signing a contract so that we've got contractual arrangements but I think it can be clearly defined as a western project and that it can be pointed to a particular cost centre. While I share the concern, I think it's specific enough that it will be very clear where the liability lies and where the asset will be billed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

I would like to thank the Minister and again just state that I wish the Dogrib Nation and all their partners and players in this venture all the best. It's a good initiative and I appreciate this government supporting it.

Thank you. Do we have any further general comments? Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Finance had asked that we provide two pieces of information today to committee of the whole. If I might do that right now, Mr. Chairman, I would appreciate it.

The first one is the Standing Committee on Finance wanted to know who the executives were of the Energy Corporation. The president is Mr. Jim Guthrie, the vice president of finance is Leon Courneya, the secretary is Matt Noble and the chairman is Jim Robertson. Those people are familiar to us because they are also with the Power Corporation. Because of that, the second question was are we going to be activating this Energy Corporation, are we going to cause ourselves a whole lot of overhead? I think the answer to that is no, Mr. Chairman, because these people are sort of in mirror jobs in the Power Corporation.

Thirdly, there was a question with regard to interest rates. The corporation has a commitment at the present time to borrow at an interest rate about 130 basis points over benchmark Canada long-term loans, June 1, 2023. While I can't say what the interest rate specifically would be, I can tell you what the margin would be as over the benchmark Canada long-term loans. They have an agreement to pay 130 basis points. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Antoine.

Mr. Chairman, we recognize the importance of this bill in establishing financing for the Dogrib Power Corporation, the hydro electric project that is going to be developed on the Snare Cascade. This is an important mechanism that has been activated in Bill 18. The maximum for the loan is $25 million. We have covered some of this area already in the committee but, for the record, I would like to ask the Minister if he could describe for us the process for which the NWT Energy Corporation will provide the loan guarantee to the Dogrib Corporation. Thank you.

The honourable Minister of Finance.

Mr. Chairman, we are actually -- through the Power Corporation, through its wholly owned subsidiary, the NWT Energy Corporation -- going to borrow $25 million, as I said before, at a 130 basis point over Canada Loans, whatever they are on that particular day, and then we are going to turn around and loan those funds to the Dogrib Power Corporation. One of the guarantees is that they will allow us to take off the money that we will paying them for power, the principle and interest payments, so it gets paid directly to the Energy Corporation. That is the way the financing will work, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Antoine.

Mr. Chairman, this loan guarantee is a specific arrangement and it was chosen to go this route. I am sure that it took a lot of negotiations between the Dogrib Power Corporation and the NWT Power Corporation to come up with this scheme. I would like to ask the Minister, why was this specific way of setting up the guarantees chosen?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, what this bill is going to do is it is going to guarantee the loan that is going to be made by the NWT Energy Corporation. We are unable to go out and make a guarantee or an indemnity on behalf of the government unless we are authorized by this House. So, what this House is going to do is it is going to pass a bill that guarantees the government will stand behind the loan that the Energy Corporation will give and then the Energy Corporation will, in turn, have a further agreement with Dogrib Power to advance those same funds to Dogrib Power. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.