Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to this line then, what initiatives is the government taking to explore and adopt an overall energy management policy for the Government of the Northwest Territories and the people in the industry here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, through the Arctic Energy Alliance we have identified, going back a year, two years ago, a number of goals that have to be pursued. The Arctic Energy Alliance which is made up of a broad sector of people representing government and non-government, has begun a lot of work on these. Included are ways to increase energy efficiency, to develop energy supply options, ways to reduce energy costs and expenditures, ways to control greenhouse gas emissions, and ways to improve economic self-sufficiency.

We have been working through the Arctic Energy Alliance because it is a body that represents government as well as non-government agencies, including the Power Corporation. As they work through this we have to keep in mind that we have limited capacity in our government. We can only do so much at any one time. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased that the Minister has brought the Arctic Energy Alliance forward. I am a big believer in this group, its purpose and its mandate. I would again like to ask about the government's willingness to create a mandate for itself to have a territory-wide energy policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly we need to have an energy policy or an energy strategy, whatever we want to call it, for the whole of the Northwest Territories that is comprehensive and that does include government and non-government agencies. I do not think the government wants to have a policy all by itself and not have included the other groups and I would include the aboriginal self-governments in that.

I think that through the work that is being done by the Arctic Energy Alliance, through the work we have done internally, and through the Power Generation Study, we are moving quite rapidly in that direction, but this has to be a cooperative effort with government and non-government agencies. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions as well are directed to the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat. The Energy Alliance did provide a briefing to the Ordinary Members as well and there are four separate initiatives going on in terms of the development of the energy strategy. The concern is, Mr. Speaker, they are separate initiatives that are not linked. If the plan is to somehow link them together at the end as opposed to having the broad framework done, out of which these other smaller, discrete initiatives would flow, could the Minister indicate briefly the mandate of this current review that is underway and how it will tie into the development of that broad energy strategy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The terms of reference for the Electrical Power Generation Study were circulated or delivered to all of the Members of the Legislative Assembly. The purpose of that study is to have a look at our current regime and see how it serves to optimize public interest. We are looking much broader than just the Power Corporation. We are looking at the broad public interest issues around power generation, distribution and regulation. Some of the main areas that they are looking at is security of supply, quality and reliability of service, cost of service, affordability of rates, responsiveness to client needs, adaptability to changing service conditions and, of course, the return on public investment. That is in a nutshell the main terms of reference or purpose for the study.

How does it link into the broader energy strategy or energy initiative? Well, when I went through the goals the Arctic Energy Alliance set, they talked about increased energy efficiency. Certainly what is going on in the Power Generation Study is aimed at that. We need efficient power energy supply for people so that it is cost-effective. Another one of their goals was to develop energy supply options. Again, the Power Generation Study is looking at that one.

Mr. Speaker, those would be the two main ones, although looking at other goals like reducing energy costs and expenditures is certainly part of the study that is being done on power generation.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the concerns that has been raised and has been sort of across the land wherever I have gone, is the concern that what is on the table in terms of the agenda for this review, that there may be another motive. That is, to come up with a rationale or a justification to sell the Power Corporation for a quick cash infusion. I was wondering if the Minister could speak to that issue and clarify it for the record. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that there are lots of rumours out there about why we might be undertaking this study now. I have certainly heard rumours that we were going to sell the Power Corporation. I also heard this week that we were not going to sell the Power Corporation. There are lots of them on every possible scenario. There is no pre-determining of the conclusions. We have contracted four very specialized experts in this field to do a study for us. We have given them terms of reference. We expect their report back by the end of the month and we are not determining it ahead of time at all. If there is any rumour that we have pre-determined this, it is totally a rumour. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the other areas of concern in regard to this review is the limited public consultation. Is this going to be the final strategy or is this just a start and at some point down the road, there will be a more comprehensive review done with full public consultation? Right now, from what I have seen, the public consultation is very, very limited. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, this review is one that, as I said, is being headed up by four people who have tremendous expertise, experience and knowledge in the whole power generation or energy generation field. They have been mandated to come back to us with a broad study of how we can best achieve the purposes that I laid out before.

They will come back to us by the end of November. Once we receive that study, there is every intention to go out and do consultation on it. We have to get the broad framework in place though, before we can begin to deal with specific initiatives that might come out of the study and the implementation of those. The implementation of specific pieces will come later on, but we need this to understand the broad framework first. That is what these four experts have been charged with doing. Yes, there will be consultation after we receive the report at the end of November. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, then that makes very critical the question of who is going to be doing the review? Who are the experts? Do they have a particular ideological or professional position that they favour and is it going to be a filter through which they look at and develop all the recommendations? Could the Minister indicate to this House who are these experts, as he refers to them, and what are some of their backgrounds for this kind of work? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I believe there are two questions there. Mr. Handley, you may choose to answer whichever one you like. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The project team is being led by Mr. Jim Robertson, who is a Northwest Territories businessman and former chairman and CEO of the NTPC. In addition, he has three other people with expertise in this area: Mr. Rick Heinemann, who is an energy consultant and expert on greenhouse gases and energy policy and he is a former deputy minister of energy for the province of Alberta; Mr. Dave Morrison, who is an electrical utility consultant and former assistant chairman of NTPC; and Mr. Fred Abbott, who is an electrical utility consultant and former managing partner of a major multinational consulting group.

Mr. Speaker, we believe that these men collectively have tremendous experience and expertise in the whole area of power generation and are optimistic that they will give us an excellent report. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.