Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to present its report on the review of Bill 1, Power Corporation Act and Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Public Utilities Act.
Chapter 1 of the report establishes the terms of reference for the review and outlines what the bills are intended to accomplish. The 2nd chapter of the report describes the standing committee's course of action in reviewing the two bills. Chapter 3 deals with the environmental scan. It outlines the political forces and legal structures impacting upon the proposed legislation. This chapter identifies a number of organizations with a significant role in the proceedings and briefly describes their mandates. In chapter 4 of the report, the principles of the review and the factors that guided the standing committee in their deliberations are introduced. Chapter 5 of the report is designed to help the reader understand the differences between the present legislation and how Bills 1 and 2 would impact on the operations of the Power Corporation and the Public Utilities Board. Chapter 6 of the report outlines the core issues that the standing committee heard during its public hearings on the two bills and the solutions offered by the presenters to their concerns with the bills and the companion documents. In chapter 7 the committee makes recommendations and explains the current status of the two bills.
On October 23, 1997, the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, the Honourable Charles Dent, introduced Bill 1, Power Corporation Act. Bill 1 received first and second readings in the Legislative Assembly and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review and public hearings. On October 23, 1997, the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Public Utilities Board, the Honourable John Todd, introduced Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Public Utilities Act. Bill 2 received first and second readings in the Legislative Assembly and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review and public hearings.
The Power Corporation Act would repeal the current Northwest Territories Power Corporation Act and provide for the continuation of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The bill authorizes the Minister to hold shares in the Corporation and to transfer shares to the Interim Commissioner of Nunavut, upon the agreement of the Interim Commissioner. The Government of the Northwest Territories would be authorized to make guarantees on behalf of the corporation, to make loans and contributions to the corporation and to invest in the corporation. Consequential amendments would be made to five other acts to reflect the change of status of the corporation. The NWT Power Corporation is currently incorporated under territorial legislation and operates only in the Northwest Territories. The new territory of Nunavut will be created under the Nunavut Act on April 1, 1999. The effect of the Nunavut Act is that the laws enforced in the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999 will be duplicated for Nunavut. If no legislation is passed before the creation of Nunavut, the current NWT legislation, the NWT Power Corporation Act,will be duplicated in Nunavut. This would mean the creation of a separate power corporation for Nunavut.
In Footprints 2, the Nunavut Implementation Commission's Report to the Governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated on the establishment of Nunavut, the NIC recommended that a single power corporation exist to serve customers in Nunavut and the new Western Territory. The Government of the Northwest Territories agreed with this proposal and introduced Bills 1 and 2 as enabling legislation. The proposed Power Corporation Act calls for the NWT Power Corporation to be continued under federal legislation (the Canada Business Corporations Act) with its shares held by the Governments of Nunavut and the Western Territory. Under the CBCA the continued corporation could operate in more than one province or territory.
Bill 2 would amend the current Public Utilities Act to allow the Public Utilities Board to establish joint divisions with a Public Utilities Board of another province or territory, where a public utility conducts business in both jurisdictions. The bill provides that a joint division has the jurisdiction, powers and duties of the board and that a decision or act of a joint division is a decision or act of the board. This amendment would allow the future governments of Nunavut and the Western Territory to set up a joint division of their respective Public Utilities Boards made up of members of both boards to regulate a utility that operates in both jurisdictions. The proposed act to amend the Public Utilities Act is largely in response to the proposed Power Corporation structure set out in the Power Corporation Act, the Standing Committee on Government Operations decided to review and report on the two bills together.
Mr. Speaker, I will now pass this onto Mr. Miltenberger. Thank you.