Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee coordinates all the energy initiatives for the government, because energy consumption crosses all departmental lines.

We do have a program that’s been in place starting last year. It’s a program to assist homeowners and consumers so that they can replace products that are in everyday use and reduce their costs by improving their energy consumption.

Can the Minister provide me with some details on what’s planned, if anything, to assist residents of Tu Nedhe?

We do have a number of initiatives underway. The primary one is the Energy Efficiency Incentive program, and that’s part of a program we had last year.

This year we’ve revised the program substantially. We’re focusing on home heating. We have a number of initiatives there. One is that we’re providing a rebate for purchase of wood stoves, because the use of wood stoves is one of the easiest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We also have rebates for wood pellet heating appliances and for high efficiency oil furnaces.

Also, in the communities that are in the Member’s riding fuel is disbursed by the Petroleum Products Division, and there are some subsidies involved in setting that price.

Can the Minister tell us when he can provide cross government details on budgets and what is being planned for the various departments under the energy initiatives? When can the Minister provide some of that detail?

I can advise the Member that with regard to rebates for wood stoves we’re increasing the rebate to $400 from $300. As well, for wood pellet heating furnaces we’re increasing the rebates to $700 for pellet furnaces and $1,000 for pellet boilers.

As far as government departments, all government departments are involved in developing energy conservation measures. We will be rolling them out as part of the business planning process.

Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

We recognize that the high cost of energy is one that is going to affect all of the people of the Northwest Territories. We will be rolling out a very extensive program that is currently under development. Any of these kinds of suggestions will be undertaken.

I can add that the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation is looking at those kinds of suggestions as to how we can help people who can’t afford to buy wood stoves but would like to utilize them. We are taking all of these into consideration as we go forward. We’ll be bringing them forward as part of the business planning process.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier today. It gets back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about this new proposal the Government of the Northwest Territories put forward to the federal government that was in addition to the devolution and resource revenue sharing negotiations that were ongoing.

Everybody knows that the Government of the Northwest Territories has been trying to get a deal with the federal government for the past 20 years. This may or may not be a good proposal that the government has put forward, but all of a sudden, to plop a massive — and the Premier even alludes to it in his sessional statement as “substantive” — proposal to the federal government into the mix…. I’d just like the Premier to advise Members on this side of the House when we might be able to get a look at the proposal that was made to the federal government.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is quite right. The fact is that we have over many years and through many Assemblies tried to come to a conclusion from what was one day called a Northern accord to devolution and resource revenue sharing.

We know that the last offer on the table was one that, when working with the aboriginal governments and organizations, they were not supportive of. Some groups are saying they want to do their own work first or come up with a settlement in their self-government discussions.

But through the regional table that we’ve established during the life of this government, we’ve been having ongoing discussions about the devolution and resource revenue sharing file. Prior to sending the letter out, I was able to call a number of the regional leaders to inform them I was putting a letter before the Prime Minister and at the same time had forwarded a letter on to Members. We’re trying to set up some time now to sit down with Members and go over more of the file that we’re waiting to bring to conclusion.

I appreciate the challenge that the government finds itself in, and I know the pressures on our infrastructure and the need for more money. You can’t debate that. But the fact remains there was an impasse. The government has put a new proposal on the table to the federal government without first consulting the Regular Members of this

House — duly elected Members — and I’ve heard from other Members that perhaps aboriginal governments across the Northwest Territories weren’t consulted on this either.

So, again, let’s be up front with each other. Let’s put the deal on the table before we take it to Ottawa. I’d like to ask the Premier when we’ll be able to see this proposal.

The fact is that at times we have to move and move fairly quickly. When we became aware that the Prime Minister was going to be visiting our jurisdiction, we felt that was the opportune time to put before him and his staff the idea of establishing a framework. That is a step we have taken, to come up with a proposal that is a framework to try to cross the gap that is now in place with the existing deal on the table.

Again, I called a number of the regional leaders. Those I was able to speak to I let know that this was the intention. We forwarded letters on to them in that regard, and we’re going to also, at our next meeting, have further discussions on this. I believe it would be in November at some point, at our next regional leaders meeting.

I’ve got, I believe, some time scheduled now, or we’re working on the scheduling of a meeting with committee members to go over the framework. But it is just that. It is a framework to try to cross that gap that is now in place.

I think part of the problem, from what I understand, in the past and the impasse that was there had to do with this fiscal capacity cap.

I’d like to ask the Premier: is the impasse that’s currently at play the capacity cap, or is it this new proposal the Government of the Northwest Territories has put on the table?

First of all, I should say that in my correspondence with the Prime Minister I feel we’ve got an opportunity to continue the discussions as we look at this framework we’ve put on the table.

There are a number of factors at play here. The federal government has quite clearly told us they will treat us the same as every jurisdiction in Canada. That is the part where you look at equalization versus formula financing of a 50 per cent in and 50 per cent out scenario. We’ll use a nominal figure of $100. If we were to get $100 in royalty, we’d lose $50 of it through our transfer payments, and we’d net $50. Then another measure comes in, and that’s the fiscal capacity capthat they have put in place; that is different from other jurisdictions. We’re still negotiating the fact that it is a concern to us.

Now, with this framework that may be a way of bridging them. In fact, I would say that is still using the money that is coming out of the Northwest Territories, so I think that is why the discussion has been open and remains open. Hopefully, shortly after the election we will be able to move on that along with the Members of this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t disagree with the Premier. Obviously, we need to do something.If they are moving forward with this, that is good. I just think it would be nice to know on this side of the House, especially with what I have seen and heard. It’s a billion dollar cost shared infrastructure agreement with the federal government.

Maybe I could ask the Premier this question: where is the $500 million coming from in the Government of Northwest Territories to cost share with the federal government’s $500 million?

Mr. Speaker, let’s not put numbers out there that are not factualat this point: $500 million. You talked about cost sharing, but a percentage has yet to be discussed of what level, as well, from the Northwest Territories. I talk about a partnership among the federal government, the GNWT and the private sector. There are a number of things we need to work out. It is early days on that, but we felt we needed to put that on the table and get that recognized before a call for an election happened. Then we’ve got ground to work with. So this is a framework we’re working on.

As I said, I’d be prepared to sit down and work on getting the time, together with the committee, to go over some of this. It is early days, and we felt we needed to get a marker down and establish this. As we have heard from Members of the Assembly on numerous occasions, as well as the public out there when we talk about our budgeting situation, we need to step up and get something done. Here is that opportunity, I believe, which we have created.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue on this theme of devolution and resource sharing negotiations. I want to start by just noting that where there is a vacuum — that is, no information — false information will be developed. So it would be nice to get those vacuums filled.

My first concern is aboriginal governments. Like it or not, we do share governance with them. Which aboriginal governments and claimant groups were

contacted by the Premier, and what was their response in this round?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, the initial contact was by phone with me and a number of the leaders. I left a message for others I could not get hold of. We follow up with a letter just as we are sending our package out. We’ve got some correspondence, as well, at the regional table we set up; we’ve been discussing the file ongoing.

I know, for example, the Akaitcho group are saying they’ve got their own process. They do not want to be involved in this, in fact, and wish us to not have any further discussions on devolution and resource revenue sharing. The Sahtu is undergoing some of their own work and looking at the numbers we provided. I believe their work confirmed, in fact, what our numbers were stating.

We have other groups that are prepared to move on it; for example, the Gwich’in, the Inuvialuit. The Sahtu have taken a step back from their original position. The Northwest Territories Métis have also been supportive of this initiative. The Deh Cho is a group that is again saying they are involved in their own process. They want to complete that and feel they need to do that before they can support any initiative of the GNWT.

The problem is that if the Government of the Northwest Territories is dealing with all levels of programs and services in all the regions — whether it is health care, education or economic development — without additional resources, we’re going to leave self-government as they take over operations. When they do finally settle their claims, they’re going to take over operations that are burdened with a heavy load, and that’s the problem of continuing to wait.