Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to Mr. Todd, the Minister responsible for Division. Mr. Speaker, after respectfully listening to Mr. Miltenberger's questionable dissertation on the possible sharing of the Power Corporation and Mr. Picco's fair analysis of the facts, my question would be who will make the final decision regarding the outcome of how the Power Corporation will be shared as it pertains to division? Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the Division Secretariat, Mr. Todd.

The whole issue of division and assets and liabilities is, we have a table and the assets and liabilities sides are working very effectively and moving expeditiously to identify what is east and what is west. There will be a number of areas where we have what we call a trapped asset that we are going to have to work out some arrangement with our partners. A level head has to prevail here, and you have to crank down the rhetoric and we have got to, at some point, reach the appropriate compromise that meets all the needs of the territories, whether you are living in Fort Smith or Iqaluit. There is no question that the NWT Power Corporation and, for that matter, the Workers' Compensation Board are very difficult issues at the present time. We are leaving it up to the negotiators at this time to try to reach a compromise with all the partners around the table so we can move forward in a fair and equitable manner. Ultimately, we will come to an arrangement that is in the best interest of all northerners, not one particular section of the country or the other. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the event that the parties cannot come to an agreement that is fair to all parties, what is the position of this government? Thank you.

--Applause

Mr. Todd.

For the present time, Mr. Speaker, the position of the territorial government and the Cabinet is that the Power Corporation, at this time, stays as one. I will repeat that, Mr. Speaker. My honourable colleague asked what the current position of the territorial government is in relationship to the NWT Power Corporation, I believe. If that is the question he asked, the position of the government at the present time is it remains as one entity. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to clarify my question. My question was in the event that an agreement cannot be concluded, what will be the position of this government, and what timeframe will the government put in place in order to deal with this, given the fact that we are approximately 300 days prior to division? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should clarify for my colleague that the one thing I was remiss in not mentioning is, we have currently recruited a facilitator in an effort to bring all the parties together to reach an appropriate compromise. Should we, unfortunately, not come to the kind of compromise that we, as legislators, would want to occur, there are provisions within the Nunavut Act that was passed at Parliament that would provide the ability for the Minister of DIAND to make some decisions and to be the ultimate arbitrator on issues where we cannot come to an agreement on. I am optimistic that in my 32 years of experience in this country is, that at some point, we will all recognize there is a need for compromise on these fundamental difficulty issues that affects us all. The cost of power, the delivery of power is an essential service that we all recognize. Therefore, we have got to try to make a concerted effort to reach an arrangement that will satisfy all our constituents across the territories. As I said earlier, they have recruited a facilitator in a last effort to try to reach an arrangement that will satisfy all parties. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.