It’s really appropriate, although we’re not allowed to waive items here, that the colour of the Main Estimates is gold. I had a reference to it recently as “it’s the gold book for tendering,” and this provides a reference.

The issue really is: would he be willing to look at this and address this? I didn’t hear that clearly. It sort of was a wishy-washy answer. I want to hear that this government is willing to act, to operate in the best way for the people of the Northwest Territories, and giving the numbers out is not sound management. Will the Minister commit to including this item as an issue to deal with in their planning?

Mr. Speaker, obviously the Member is not hearing what I’m saying, or there’s something not connecting here because I believe I committed to working with the Members on the Infrastructure Acquisition Plan. In fact, it is a concern to us. That is why we’ve put an Infrastructure Cabinet Committee group together and are working with Members on the budget process, looking at timing, looking at how we bundle our projects together, and how they’re presented to the people of the Northwest Territories. We will work with committee on that. So yes, we are working with committee, and we’ll continue to do so.

Mr. Speaker, my humble apologies go to the Minister of Finance if he actually had a commitment in there. Usually, they’re so thinly veiled they’re hard to recognize. Well, they’re even worse from the Minister of ENR. But can we expect to see something in a timely way by this fall, before business plans, on this specific subject?

Obviously, our briefings are working because the Member is aware we’re planning to go to committee. We’re looking at the timing of the budget. We’re looking a number of issues around trying to come back with a way of limiting the forced growth in our Capital Acquisition Plan.

We’ll continue to work with Members on the timing of it. We’re hoping that in this budget, this fall, we should be able to present the Capital Acquisition Plan at a different time from what we’ve done and a different practice from what we’ve done in the past.

Thank you, Mr.

Roland. Final

supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. I

appreciate the Capital Acquisition Plan. We’re going to look at a new schedule, and that’s good. That’s good. But my question really was: before the business plan starts, will the Minister be bringing forward a plan of how to address this? As he said already, it’s coming to committee, but will we see it before the business plan starts this fall?

We’ve made the offer to committee to work with committee closely on this process of how we proceed and come up with a common practice we can support going ahead. So yes, we’re going to be working with committee before a draft acquisition plan and before committee members. We have quite a number of issues to deal with in that time.

Thank you, Mr.

Roland. The

honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of ECE on the Languages Commissioner. I’m wondering: given the report that we’ve seen, where budget wasn’t spent and communities weren’t visited, what kind of oversight does the Minister have? What sort of oversight role does he play in the performance of the commissioner’s duties?

Thank you, Mr.

Bromley. The

honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That commissioner has their own role, to implement the operations of the Languages Commissioner within the communities and regions. My understanding is that she is a statutory officer. With our ECE department we work closely with her as well. I believe there have been some recommendations brought forward, and we are working on those recommendations, so she is in that role. Mahsi.

I’m wondering what sort of accountability here…. As I understand it, this commissioner hardly visited any communities. To me, as just a member of the public and so on, I saw very little profile for the Languages Commissioner. I think back to a few commissioners ago when it was huge, in the news all the time; it was a big part of…. To me, this is a really important role, so I’m wondering what sort of accountability…. How does this commissioner get feedback about the job she’s doing and so on, to make sure things get happening as they should?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Before I go to the Minister on this one, the Languages Commissioner is a statutory officer answering to the Legislative Assembly and the Board of Management. I would suspect that would be the avenue to approach regarding areas of accountability about statutory officers, so I’m going to rule that question out of order right now.

Thank you, Members. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on the questions that have been asked in the House today by my colleagues with regard to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, but I want to direct my question to the Minister responsible for the FMBS, because the FMBS oversees the Power Subsidy Program. People talk about levelized rates, and I know that the PUB has commented in the past on the issue of

one-rate zone, or levelized rates, suggesting that it is completely within the proper mandate of this government to be the social engineers of power rates in the Northwest Territories. To that end, we have something called the Territorial Power Subsidy Program, and this allows everyone to pay the same rate in the Northwest Territories as Yellowknife, up to 700 kilowatts per hour.

When was the last time this program was reviewed? Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that if it is colder and darker with longer cold seasons farther north, why would it be 700 kilowatt hours across the board when you know full well that somebody living in the southern part of the Northwest Territories in a small community is going to require far less support than a person living in the high Arctic?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member Responsible for FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The program itself hasn’t been reviewed for quite some time. In fact, the Member is right: everyone above the Yellowknife rate would pay the first…. We would provide the Territorial Power Support Program for everyone up to the first 700 kilowatt hours. We are concerned and want to look at this. That’s why the Energy Coordinating Committee will be looking at this power support program, its structure and how it’s used in the Northwest Territories.

Mr.

Speaker, does the

Premier consider it would be sensible to pro-rate the power subsidy based on the part of the territory you’re living in, in terms of your demand and your consumption of this utility?

Mrs. Groenewegen, you might be asking the Premier for an opinion, but I’ll allow the Minister to answer. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Territorial Power Support Program has grown substantially over the last number of years. Questions about energy and its supply and how we provide this subsidy program need to be reviewed. For the most part, on average, when we do a comparison, most households can live within the 700 kilowatt hours, and that is something we also take into consideration when we set the program parameters.

Again, it will be one of the areas as we proceed forward on the energy file: reviewing this program and seeing how it best works in the Northwest Territories. At the existing pace, we’re going to quickly run out of options as we proceed, and we’ll have to be finding more money to keep topping up the program. We do need to come forward with a comprehensive plan on how we will proceed on energy and energy use in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, to the issue of finding money to top up the program: right now, where do the funds come from for the territorial support program?

Mr. Speaker, part of it is a request we make of the corporation. We request a dividend on an annual basis, and then we top it up from general revenue for the rest of the program. In fact, in the last few years of the budget it has been $3.5 million from the Power Corporation. The rest has been from general revenues of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr.

Roland. Final

supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask if the amount of the contribution to the territorial support program through a dividend from the NWT Power Corporation has been declining in recent years. At one time didn’t the NWT Power Corporation’s dividend completely finance the territorial support program?

Mr. Speaker, at one time, in fact, the dividends used to pay for the Territorial Power Support Program when it was less than 4 and a half million dollars. It used to be that the amount covered it off 100 per cent. It now covers less than 50 per cent. We reduced the dividend to 3 and a half million dollars, and we have to fill up the rest. For example, we’re looking at just under $10 million to cover off that program during this fiscal year.