Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to introduce two former residents of Inuvik and, more importantly, Inuvik Twin Lakes, Anne and Bill Crossman, who are here in Yellowknife this weekend for their daughter’s wedding. Anne is also the editor of Permafrost Media, and Bill worked at the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik. He totally agrees with me that the Arctic Institute belongs in Inuvik. Thank you.

It is my pleasure to recognize a constituent, Timothy Riviere. You can see he has shaved his head to raise money for cancer. He’s raised $2,500 dollars, and his hair was used to make wigs for those suffering from cancer.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I’d like to welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.

Item 6, acknowledgements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great pleasure to acknowledge a constituent of mine. Jessica Hopkins, a graduate of Sir John Franklin High School, recently won the Canadian Millennium Scholarship for excellent academic performance, innovation and her exceptional community service. Jessica won this because she strives to nurture in others a love of reading and helped to implement the project that matched middle and elementary school students for one-on-one reading and word games.

She is also active in environment matters. She took on the responsibility of researching and implementing an alternative energy source for her school. She presented her findings on wind power to her school board and later attended a youth conference to talk about the issue. With her outstanding work and contributions to her community, Jessica has shown that our future leadership is secure and brighter than ever.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation with reference to my Member’s statement. We’re struggling with electrical costs all through the Northwest Territories. In my Member’s statement I referenced that three of our larger non-hydro communities are looking for some alternative ways of providing power at a cheaper rate. In fact, I believe all communities should have the right and access to cheaper power rates through a one-rate power zone. I’d like to know how much work the ministry’s office has done in light of the many motions we have passed on this side of the House in moving toward a one-rate zone or levelized rate system.

Thank you, Mr.

Menicoche. The

honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, was at the NWT annual meeting with the municipalities in Fort Simpson. I certainly heard several mayors — specifically the mayors from Norman Wells and Inuvik — talking about the one-rate zone issue.

We have a committee that’s being led by Mr. Bob McLeod in terms of the Ministers’ Energy Coordinating Committee. We’re looking at the motion that was put forward by this Assembly to look at the rate structure and the regulations. We’re looking at options and discussing with committee members what we can do to come to something that is satisfactory to people right across the Northwest Territories.

I’ve also noted in the past that the Public Utilities Board has looked at the one-rate zone system on several occasions. They certainly have information we can use in our discussions in looking at alternatives to bring down the rates for all people in the Northwest Territories that would be satisfactory to all Member in this House.

Once again I’d like to reiterate to the Minister that it’s a cry from our whole territory, as well as a request from this side of the House, that the ministry and the government look at a one-rate system or a

levelized rate system. I’ll just ask

again: what kind of work will this government be doing to work toward that?

I will also let the Member know that I also come from a community that has

high power rates, high energy issues. In terms of our communities, certainly the energy committee will be looking at the merits of a one-rate zone. We’ll be having discussions with Members from the House to look at the best options and what avenues we have available for us to implement whatever recommendation we agree would see a rate zone stabilized or a rate zone that would be satisfactory to the people in our communities.

I’ll ask it a different way. The Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation has been instructed by this side of the House, by several motions, to look at moving toward a one-rate zone or levelized rate zone. I’d like to ask: what work has been done to work toward this, to develop a proposal, to look at the different ways of providing that type of service?

Certainly, we have our marching orders from the motion that was passed in this House in terms of looking at the issue the Member’s talking about.

We have worked with the lead Minister, Hon. Bob McLeod, in terms of heading up the Ministers’ Energy Coordinating Committee. We have set down some terms of reference as to how we’re going to carry out our work. We have looked at this with our own Crown corporations in terms of our capital costs and how NWTPC does its capital costs. That will help with looking at the rate issue. We certainly are on our way. We’ll be eagerly waiting to sit with the Members to start looking at the process for, once and for all, making some announcements in terms of how we go about reducing our costs in the North.

That’s exactly the point. We are looking toward how we are going to implement a one-rate or levelized zone. It doesn’t mean the government has to do it, but the government should take a good, serious, hard look at it. I believe you do that by developing proposals and bird’s-eye view outlines of it. I’d like to know when this government will start that.

Mr.

Speaker, the

understanding from the lead Minister, the Hon. Bob McLeod.... The Ministers’ Energy Coordinating Committee will start as soon as possible. We do have the terms of reference and are ready to go to work. As soon as we are done here, we are ready to go to work taking action on the motion that was passed in terms of looking at the restructuring in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr.

Yakeleya. The

honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, have questions in regard to the high cost of energy in the Northwest Territories. My question is directed to the Minister of the energy committee, Mr. Bob McLeod. In light of the motions that have been passed in this house, and also realizing we have a major threat on our hands with the high energy costs and the effect they’re going to have — from governments to our residents to our business community — I’d like to ask the Minister: how soon will we be able to see some correspondence back from the ministerial committee in regard to acting and moving on some of these recommendations and motions passed in this House?

Thank you, Mr.

Krutko. The

honourable Minister responsible for energy initiatives, Hon. Bob McLeod.

We’ve undertaken this work, and we’ve submitted draft terms of reference. As soon as we get some feedback on the draft terms of reference, we’ll be able to start the process on the review of the rate. We’ll be looking at hopefully having something we could introduce in 2009.

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the 15th Assembly, I believe work was already undertaken by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation board, but it happened that they all got axed for doing that. I’d just like to ask the Minister: since the work has already been done, have you looked at reinstating the work that has been done in the 15th Assembly by the Northwest Territories Power Corporation?

It is our intention to resurrect all of the work that has been done in the past and utilize that in the review of the rates by the committee. It is also our intention to talk to the public and other stakeholders. Certainly the work that was done on the single rate would be very useful in determining the options we would be bringing forward for review.

Mr.

Speaker, just a verification: I

believe that was the 14th Assembly.

My question to the Minister is: what’s exactly the next step? We do have questions with energy costs. We have problems with our territorial power support program. I know it’s a large thing we are talking about with hydro expansions and whatnot, yet we can’t lose sight of the biggest cost we have, which is diesel costs. I’d like to ask the Minister: are you looking at the whole — diesel fuel for transportation, the logistics and, more importantly, the cost of where we can get cheaper diesel fuel to run our diesel communities?

There are quite a number of different aspects of the energy costs, and through the Energy Corp coordinating committee we are trying to ensure that all the Ministers who have responsibilities have input into the process. I guess the most urgent thing is to look at ways to reduce the cost of resupply for diesel fuel. I think we’re doing that through the Department of Public Works.

Also, as part of this rate review we’ll be looking at the cost of the regulatory process. We want to see if that’s adding to the cost of fuel for people in communities. We will also be looking at the way the Power Corporation establishes or recovers their costs and sets their rates. We would also be looking at how other jurisdictions do it to see if there are better ways of doing business.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.