Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work that we do on an annual basis in preparing for budgets and so on, we do look at the rates as they are and the impact that they would have, more for a budgeting process. I don't have information offhand as to when the actual work was done on looking at the 700 kilowatt hours per month or the 1,000 kilowatt for small business. We haven't done that work since we took office. It is something that we have to keep in mind; if we change those we also change the cost drivers in that. If it is something the Members of the House would like us to do a review on, we can look at doing that. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I think it would be a very good time to do a review of that. I don't think that the territorial power support program is adequate when it comes to the support for small business. We hear this from the small communities and, of course, this always precipitates discussion about a single-rate zone. Mr. Speaker, I have my own thoughts as to whether or not applying a single-rate zone is the solution to this problem. I think that there are other things that could be done. The one gap I recognize is with the small business support. Could the Minister please indicate what that costs and what kind of uptake there is on that for small business? I think it is very inadequate, but what kind of uptake in cost is there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the subsidy we have for small business is 1,000 kilowatt hours per month at the subsidized rate, but beyond that then it is full cost recovery in the sense of the rates themselves. We know that it's out there, it's an application-based program. I don't have the actual percentages right now, but it has been discussed and we know that it depends on the amount of income businesses have on an annual basis if they qualify or not. The uptake hasn't been as high and it fluctuates on a year-to-year basis, but I will get the information for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister commit to taking a look at this territorial power support program, perhaps even working with Members on this side of the House to address this? I think it's very timely right now, I think it's fairly safe to say that there are going to be some price riders coming into effect, and I think particularly we need to address the business support. I think that the cost of running a business in small communities is hindering economic development and I see this as a good solution. Will the Minister commit to coming forward with a process and a plan to review these subsidies? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think in the whole area of energy and the impacts on our government, this program is one of those that would be a good thing to sit down with Members of this Assembly and go through to see if there are changes that we can make within the fiscal environment we operate in as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to apologize, I would like some clarity from the Member. I am wondering if the Member is referring to the Northern Economic Development Strategy money, the $90 million that was referred to in the Throne speech. If that is the case, I can get into some detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Menicoche, do you want to clarify your question?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is absolutely correct; that was my reference in the question earlier.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is something that I have been having a fair amount of discussion on and the department has been working on for a number of months now with the DIAND officials. There is a Northern Development Ministers' meeting being held in Chibougamou, Quebec, right now that I wasn't able to attend because of session, but my deputy minister is there in attendance, working with the two Ministers from the other territories, Ministers Kenyon and Simailak. They are in agreement on several fundamental principles as to how this money should role out. We have communicated those to the federal government, to the DIAND Minister and to Minister Ethel Blondin-Andrew who has responsibility for this program. The $90 million we feel there was some discussion about doing some funding announcements and trying to role out at least $10 million of that between the three territories this year. We've had further discussion, it's been taking awhile to get project approvals. I think we are at the point now where we would prefer to see us go forward April 1st with the whole $90 million, hold the $10 million this year. It would be very difficult for us to spend that $10 million effectively before year end, so our preference would be to talk about a $90 million strategy next year.

In addition, we are not interested in new administrative mechanisms or regimes that would talk about and determine the rollout of this money. All three territories have economic development agencies that are more than capable of handling this money. We would like to see bilateral deals with the federal government and see us make the decisions on the programs as opposed to a policy committee in Ottawa.

So those are several of the things that we are discussing now and we are hoping that we will have an announcement from Minister Ethel Blondin-Andrew soon in this regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for providing an adequate breakdown of where we're at with the process. My other concern, Mr. Speaker, is that the priorities are northern priorities and not direction from Ottawa where to spend the funding that they have allocated for us, for this year or, indeed, if, as the Minister says, that we start allocating on April 1, 2005. I just want to get assurances from the Minister that any of the priorities will be priorities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is certainly our position. The federal government had sought to, as I had mentioned, have a policy committee in Ottawa to determine which projects could qualify for this money. We don't feel that is adequate. We feel those decisions need to be made in the North. We are prepared to defer the $10 million that would need to be spent this year in a very quick manner, we don't think effectively, probably, and talk about the $90 million going forward. But that would be based on decisions made in the Northwest Territories for the Northwest Territories, and likewise for Nunavut and the Yukon.

I think the longer-term solution here is a northern economic development agency much the same as Western Economic Diversification or Atlantic Opportunities. We've been pushing that and the federal Minister, Minister Ethel Blondin-Andrew, certainly seems to like the idea as well. Having said that, we don't want to see this $90 million held up as we work towards the formalization of such an organization. So we think that a northern economic development agency is a long-term solution for the $90 million over the next few years. We want to see those decisions made in the respective territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess once we identify ourselves as say an economic development agreement or a similar type region, what typically happens with a lot of these agreements is that we offer low interest loans or even no interest loans to stimulate the businesses, Mr. Speaker. I was wondering if the Minister had had any thoughts towards that area in terms of this strategy, in terms of stimulating our regions and our businesses. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.