Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all of us make statements in the public. Some of them are reported accurately and some of them are twisted sadly out of shape and out of context. This is what we face as politicians every day. What I know is that I have met with Mr. Handley and discussed this with other Ministers as well, that we need to be very careful about the comments we make. I know that probably better than anybody else. Some of the comments can sometimes prejudice the objectivity, I guess, with which we carry out our office and our jobs, and all Ministers have been cautioned about it. However, we are also politicians and some of us enjoy very much to be in the public limelight all the time, to be in the papers and have our pictures out there, to be on the radio.

It is difficult to govern. You elected all of us. We try to do the best job possible, outshine each other once in a while, when we can. It also has some difficulties with it.

We did have a discussion about it, is my point. We try to be careful about what we say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier is white...is right.

-- Laughter

I would like to have that not...

-- Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like not to have that reported in the media. Mr. Speaker, the Premier has correctly said that we elected the Cabinet, and we did. We also elected him the Premier because we expected that he would take a leadership role in these kinds of matters. These personal views of Mr. Handley's that he has put out there are not just in regard to this particular instance with the direction of the Power Corporation. In media subsequent, I mean, just today on the front page of the Hub, Mr. Handley goes on to say that he is at odds with Mr. Miltenberger, another Cabinet Minister, on this particular subject. I mean, why do we not just broadcast the Cabinet meetings? What is the Premier going to do about these comments that are being made publicly, which I think are in complete contravention of Cabinet protocol? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am having a difficult time composing myself, never mind composing a question, so I think I will just let...go on to the next Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the legislation setting up the Power Corporation goes long before my time, but I have to say that in all cases, or at least practically all cases, boards are set up and legislation is provided to give them some guidance in their responsibilities and their mandate. It is set up in order to distance that operation from political influences. So in the case of a Power Corporation board, that is the objective. Now, as a Crown corporation, 100 percent owned by the government, then certainly we will provide it with direction, and hopefully that direction will be strategic direction and hopefully the board recognizes its responsibility to operate consistent with the direction of the government, that they are not an entity on their own.

Clearly that board is set up in order to distance the operation of that Crown corporation from the day-to-day politics that we all live in. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I do not go to the board meetings except on occasion to speak with them on specific things so I do not know exactly what their thinking is, but clearly they are given a mandate by the government to provide safe, secure, reliable, affordable power to all the citizens, commercial and residential in the Territories. I assume that in any thinking they have about their rate application, they want to be able to do that and meet the targets that we set for them. As a government, we do set targets that we expect them to meet in regard to the amount of the dividend they will pay back to us as a government. They are trying to live within that framework and that responsibility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, no, the Power Corporation is not losing money on existing rates. They are operating on interim rates for the time being until their phase 2 application is through the PUB process. If they were to continue at the present rates as at the interim rates, they would not meet the targets that we have set for them. I believe that target is to pay us a dividend of roughly $4 million. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, certainly since division, our Power Corporation has had a smaller customer base and that has provided them with new challenges. They have to meet the target that we set for them in terms of dividends they will pay back to us. I am assuming that going to the one-rate zone as they were proposing was their way of being able to do that in a way that would live up to their mandate.

In discussions I have had with the chairman of the board, I also pointed out to him that we as a government cannot continue to see the power subsidy program increase as dramatically as it has in the last while. We are well over $7 million now and it is going up each year. So he knows that is a concern that we cannot just keep subsidizing higher and higher rates or eventually, we will not be able to afford to do it. Thank you.