Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to get back to the line of questioning and the questions, again, are for the Premier, the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation. I'd like to state again for the record that I am supportive of both the Bear River hydro project and the Taltson project. However, I find it difficult to imagine that decisions and money being spent is done so without any type of accounting or a disclosure of the risks. It is public money and I would just like to ask, Mr. Speaker, to the Premier, if we could get a full disclosure of the risks that are involved to the public funds that are going to both of these projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I have no difficulty at all in giving the Member a summary of the money that has been spent to date, as accurately as we can -- it may not be right to the minute -- and where the money has originated, Mr. Speaker. If that's what the Member wants, I can certainly provide that.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think that would be beneficial, not only to myself but to other Members on this side of the House and to the public. I think over the course of the last four or five weeks, there's been no less than four or five different amounts bandied around on what has been spent to date on both projects. I think for the Premier to make the statement today that he is ready to have full disclosure on a, where the money came from and, b, where it's going to be spent, I think that's a great thing. I also wanted to ask him what or how this money is going toward trying to find a customer for both projects. I think that, to me, is the most important piece of this puzzle, is trying to find customers for both projects. I, for one, wouldn't mind spending money trying to find a customer. That's something I think would work for everybody. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, before these kinds of projects can move ahead, as I mentioned earlier, we have to go through a number of steps. First of all, there is the conceptual step of whether we have a project. We then do the pre-feasibility. We do the feasibility which follows that. That looks at the engineering and environmental work primarily. Then we go into a project definition stage, which describes what it is we have to do, what it's going to cost and so on. It is at that point that we would be able to go and talk to customers about whether we have a project or not because we know what it's going to cost, we know what it looks like and we know the magnitude of the project. We then would go through a permitting stage, then into construction and eventually into operation. So there is a whole range of steps we have to go through before we can identify a customer. Mr. Speaker, we have not taken either of these projects to the point yet where we would be able to, with a lot of comfort, go talk to a customer about a price. I expect, Mr. Speaker, that within the balance of this fiscal year, we should be able to know that we have a project or we have two projects or we have no project. Hopefully before the end of March 2005 we would be at that point and would be able to talk serious dollars with customers both for the Taltson project and the Bear River project if we continue on the path we are on now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Premier, for your response. I wonder how much money the Government of the Northwest Territories will have to put forward for both of these hydro projects before we get a customer. I go back to the different numbers that have been kicked around, whether it's $1.2 million or $3 million. There doesn't seem to be one number that captures everything the Government of the Northwest Territories has put towards these projects. When do we hit that critical point? Is it $5 million, $6 million, $7 million or a blank cheque for both projects and we worry about that later? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, to bring both of these projects to the stage where we have done everything and it's ready to go into permitting will cost us a total of about $5.2 million. I don't have the exact breakdown of how much would be for each project. Mr. Speaker, I expect to have some clarification, particularly on the Taltson project within this week or next week, to be able to say this is a project that can go or we are too late or there is a better way of doing this because we are looking at alternatives. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk with the potential partners in the project before finally making that decision.

With regard to the Bear project, that one certainly seems to be moving along quite well without anything that I would call a show-stopper. I expect that by April, as I said, we would be able to decide on a customer. There is something over $2 million that would have to be spent to bring it to the permitting stage as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. The Chair recognizes Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to go back to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Proceed, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate this relatively rare opportunity to recognize two constituents I noticed as I was leaving the House. They are from Fort Smith: Ms. Una Simon and Rob Genaille. I assume they are here with the Nechi folks.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ms. Pat Switzer, a constituent of mine from Fort Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. It certainly is always a pleasure to see residents in the gallery taking part in our proceedings. Welcome. We will return to oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask questions of the Premier with respect to the hydro projects. I don't know where to start because there are many questions to be asked. I will try to follow up on my colleague's questions, Mr. Ramsay's questions, because the answers that the Premier gave to him gave me more questions.

Mr. Speaker, I still didn't get a clear answer. It was reported recently that the Taltson expansion and the Bear hydro project to date have cost this government, we heard, $300,000, $1.2 million, and the Power Corporation came on the same broadcast and said $3 million. Mr. Premier believes the price is right. Which price is it to date? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The honourable Member Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I think there are a lot of different answers depending on what question is asked. To be clear, the amount that has been spent to date on the Taltson project is $3 million. That's $1.5 million, which I will put in the engineering work category and $1.5 million for the baseline studies that have been done to date. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.