Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

I'm starting to regret being so friendly to this Minister yesterday. Does the Minister intend to exercise the renewal process in this building, vis-...-vis the lease process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I would remind the Members to put their answers through the Chair, please. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I had committed to, I will get the information together and provide to the Member. In the area of the renewal dates and if we plan to extend them, I'm not aware of the intentions at this point. We'll have to work with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to see what the future plans are, and at that point we would make a decision. But what information we do have, I will get together and provide it to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister can inform us in the House whether or not ECE wishes to continue as the present core leaseholder in the Northern United building, will he be able to inform me if they intend to honour the commitment that provides subsidized housing for seniors, persons with disabilities, and other people on financial needs, as the base, anchor tenant to this building? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I'll have to get some information on this file and look to the extent that we are involved in Public Works on the leasing side. It sounds like we have a partnership with potentially the Housing Corporation on this initiative, as well as ECE, but I'll get the information together and once I have that, I can respond better to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question would be to the Premier with regard to the Sahtu Bear River hydro development. Mr. Speaker, the residents of Sahtu I know would just love to replace their diesel generation with hydro electricity. But my understanding, Mr. Speaker, is that the project that the Premier is referring to is a huge development. If I recall correctly, it's a one-hundred-and-some-odd megawatt facility. If this project doesn't have a major customer, the communities are not going to replace their diesel generation power at the community level. Am I correct in saying that, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, the project we're looking at on the Bear River would be about a 126 megawatt project. While that amount of power is more than enough to power the proposed needs of the pipeline and the communities, the communities would not be able to shut down, tear down and move away their diesel generators. They would have to keep it for backup, because in our climate we couldn't afford to have a hydro line go down, for example, and not have any alternative. So the diesel generated stations would stay there, but they would be used for backup or for times when, for example, there was maintenance work on the hydro station. But we could not displace them until we had a second alternative for power. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Your supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Supplementary, Mr. Speaker. The Premier didn't really answer my question. I realize that the diesel generation would still be used as a backup if the project goes ahead. My question to the Minister was am I correct by saying that if the project doesn't have a major customer such as the pipeline group, that no development will take place and those communities would not get hydro electricity from that project the Minister is making reference to? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I'm sorry; I misunderstood the Member's question, but I understand it now. If this big project doesn't go ahead, then very likely the communities would not be able to make a viable hydro project for many of the communities. It is possible, Mr. Speaker, that Deline could have a mini hydro project of some kind, because of the proximity of that community to the waters that would be necessary. But for the Sahtu, no, I don't think it would be viable there or many other places in the Northwest Territories unless we have a big, anchor customer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Supplementary, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding from the officials from the Premier's department, the Power Corporation, even with the mini hydro specifically for Deline, I understand it won't be feasible for the community to absorb the costs of building this mini facility. Am I not correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, given the current power consumption in Deline, it would certainly be marginal at best and most likely wouldn't be any cheaper in the short term than is the diesel generated power we have right now, unless the community were to grow or something were to change in the technology for these mini hydro projects. We have looked at them, there is some potential, and we are looking seriously, Mr. Speaker, at one in a community like Wha Ti. But again, a lot more work has to be done. Again, even the mini hydro are very capital intensive and likely would not be viable, I would guess, in Deline, but I'm not an engineer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Your final supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For my colleague's constituents, I don't want them to get misleading or false information from the government. I applaud the government for the direction they're going, and I think it's going to be a good project for the Sahtu region if we get this major, 126 megawatt project on stream. But nevertheless, the residents of those two communities of Tulita and Deline have to understand that no matter if it's a small project, it's not going to be viable, from my understanding from the government officials. In that respect, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to ensure that my constituents understand the significance of this major project that the Premier is talking about. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. I didn't hear a question there. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wasn't going to ask any more questions, but since we are still on the hydro item, in an earlier set of questions, like I mentioned before, I have a lot of questions. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Premier's reference to an anchor customer such as Imperial Oil, I am not really sure how the pipeline works but I assume he's talking about hydroelectricity to power the pipeline and I am not sure at what interval the compression stations along the pipeline would appear, but maybe the Premier could tell me that. It's going to involve a lot of infrastructure investment in transmission lines as well. How many compression stations on a pipeline like the Mackenzie Valley pipeline are we talking about? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.