Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is an area of work underway presently with the people who have done the power review report. This team of officials is, for instance, working with myself and the Minister of Finance to look at the potential of developing the Taltson power potential.

As well, there have been some preliminary discussions with the Dogrib officials and the Power Corporation to look at the potential to expand on the power generation in the Snare Cascades -- I am not sure if I have that right -- but the discussions will engage Dogrib communities on whether or not they are interested in looking at pre-feasibility studies to see if these are in fact potentially economical to proceed with. If so, under what terms and conditions these may be worked on in partnership.

The Member has an avenue there, if work is going to be done, to look at terms and conditions under which these may proceed. All the actual hydro projects that we may look at researching or doing pre-feasibility studies on for their economic potential, will require partnership with the aboriginal people in the vicinity. The Dogrib will definitely be engaged in that specific issue. I will ensure that the Member is fully apprised of it, if that begins. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that any type of policy development, as well as project development, will require a variety of meetings, discussion forums and consultation processes, which will engage leaders and the general public in a number of instances.

I think we can assure the Member that we will certainly ensure that the public is well informed. That is the mandate of this government. It would be a requirement to make sure that people are aware of what it is that we are doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question goes to the Minister of Finance regarding the fuel rebate we had in March. Before the end of the last session, we had a very hardy debate in the House about the unfairness of the rebate the Minister introduced, in terms of how many people were included and also the fact that a lot of small businesses, who are suffering from the high cost of fuel, were not able to benefit at all.

I have had discussions with the Minister. I was hoping I could talk to him about possibly coming up with a new rebate. That was until this morning, when I heard on the radio that the Minister said he was not interested in contemplating another rebate.

I would like to know from the Minister whether or not there is any possibility to convince him otherwise? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, I did not hear that particular announcement. I do not know if I said that. If I said that, that is not exactly what I meant because I will...

-- Interjection

I do not know if it is a quote or a radio announcement, but I am always open to considering a rebate. I had said in the House a couple of days ago that we are monitoring the price of fuel and depending what happens, then I am open to it.

We continue to monitor the price. If we continue to monitor the price, if there is a need for another rebate, then I intend that we should look at that and we should try to improve on what we had the last time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will take that answer as being yes. Then my next challenge is to convince the Minister to listen to the people, MLAs here, rather than listening to someone who is working at the New York Merchant Exchange, or whatever that was he was answering yesterday.

Mr. Speaker, I realize that he is looking at the international gas price that might be on the downward trend, but our power bill, electricity bill and the price of the gas at the pump is showing no sign of going down.

Would you not agree that we have a problem with the high cost of energy in general and that he should look at introducing a rebate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I will keep that in mind. I have the same information. I know that the price of gas at the pump has not gone down. In fact, it has gone up since January. It has gone up by about four cents. Recently, I noticed that propane has gone down by almost four cents. It is moving around, and we have to watch what the longer-term trends are. We do have to look at what is happening at world markets because they have a trend here.

Yes, I will listen to the recommendations of the Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that my job here is to make sure that the Minister does more than just listen, he has to act on it.

Mr. Speaker, I do not think that Ministers should be looking at long-term trends on this high cost of fuel. He was the one who urged us to accept the rebate program that he introduced last time because of the fact that everybody was suffering so much.

I want to tell him that so many of my constituents were not able to take advantage of the last one. Would he not just reintroduce that one for those who did not qualify, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, I think I heard the Member say that she wanted to me reintroduce the old program for people who did not qualify, and I am not quite sure what was meant by that, if I heard the question correctly.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I meant to say was he would not have reintroduced that rebate if he did not agree that we had a serious problem with the high cost of fuel and energy, except that he narrowed it to such a degree that so many people who should have qualified did not get it.

He does not have to consider any other factors other than the fact that prices still remain high. Would he not introduce the program to cover those who did not qualify the last time around? Does he understand that? Thank you.

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