Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member, that in the Sahtu, power rates are incredibly high. If it weren't for the subsidy that we have to bring the rates for the first 1,000 kilowatts for business and 700 for residential down to the Yellowknife levels, then it would be impossible to do business or live there.
Mr. Speaker, we are working on the hydro development potential, we are working with both the Tulita and the Deline land corporations. We have raised this issue with Imperial. They have agreed that it is technically feasible and are interested. But we are too early, at this point, to have a customer. We need to have a big customer, Mr. Speaker, because of the capital cost of these kinds of hydro projects, both for the generating plant itself as well as for the transmission lines. So we need the pipeline company in order to be able to get the lower rates all across the Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I would like that our government be the government that began in a serious way the transfer from diesel generators to hydro powered, not just for cost but also for environmental reasons. Mr. Speaker, we are moving this as quickly as we can, but there is still a fair bit of work that has to be done yet on both the pre-engineering and the environmental work. So I am aiming at getting a customer by the end of this fiscal year. Thank you.