Mr. Speaker, the high cost of living in the N.W.T. is a fact of life, and it is a fact that unfortunately we all accept, because we choose to live up here. If we have to pay the high prices of living in the North, then that’s what we continue to do. I, too, would like to speak on the power rate increase, along with my colleague for Mackenzie Delta.
The residents of Inuvik are getting increasingly frustrated with the rate increases that continue to happen. They are allowed to happen because the Public Utilities Board is just rubber-stamping everything that comes before them, and we can’t have that. Just listening to a statement from a guy I know, who said that we have to be able to afford to live in our community…. And this is a good example of being able to afford to live in our communities.
Are they trying to price us out of the N.W.T.? Because that is the route we are going. The residents of Inuvik and the Beaufort Delta continually face high increases in everything. Not only does it affect their cost of living, but it also
affects the community businesses who have to raise their rates to make up for the difference. This is something that we as a government…. We have to protect the residents, because they are going to price us out of the N.W.T. I don’t know if that is their attitude or that is their plan. We may have people starting to do two weeks in and two weeks out, working in the N.W.T. for two weeks and going to live in Alberta for two weeks where the cost of living is cheaper.
That is the reality, Mr. Speaker — that we are constantly faced with increase after increase in everything. We have the fuel increases that are going on up in Inuvik, and that is a subject I will be speaking about tomorrow. There are a lot of things that we have absolutely no control over, yet we are the ones that continually have to pay. We have to pay for a $2 million shortfall. We have our bills on top of our bills. We get our shortfall rider and our fuel rider. If they believe so much that they need to make some savings, why don’t they cut into their bonuses? That will save a lot of money. They continually pass their expenses on to the consumer.
Mr. Speaker, this is getting frustrating. Enough is enough. It’s time that we started having a serious look at this and protecting the people that we say we are obligated to protect from situations like this.