Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, there is an electrical review that is supposed to go on, but again no terms of reference, no mandate. There is none. They will travel all through the North and meet a lot of great people. The press release reads, engage NWT residents of a territorial-wide discussion. That is exactly what they will get, a discussion on everything. Mr.

Speaker, it is going to take the direction of the JRP hearings. It is going to run for as long as people can talk.

Mr. Speaker, I challenge the Premier to table terms of reference and show us how the mandates of all of these reviews are going to work together. Mr. Speaker, I say that if we really want to give away our power utilities, Mr. Speaker, I would challenge the Premier to talk to our northern development groups to work together and make sure this essential asset is northern based and northern owned. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since 1976, the Sport North Federation has been actively promoting the development of amateur sport in the Northwest Territories. Their vision is to become the recognized leader in sport development and ensure that opportunities in sports are accessible to all residents in the Northwest Territories. Today’s Sport North is a federation of 27 territorial sports organizations. Its three partner organizations, the Aboriginal Sport Circle of the Western Arctic, NWT Recreation and Parks and Special Olympics NWT are recognized leaders in the promotion of sports and active living.

Sport North administers the NWT branch of KidSport, a national organization designed to assist youth under 18 reach their athletic potential by supplementing registration and equipment fees when their participation in sport would otherwise be limited by financial barriers. KidSport helps ensure that all children have equal opportunity to enjoy sports and develop skills in their chosen activity.

Sport North Federation is directed by its members, but its policies and programs such as KidSport are administered by volunteers. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to take this opportunity to applaud the large number of volunteers in the NWT athletic community for their dedication and hard work. Their hard work and commitment is what makes the difference in many Northerners’ lives. Through grants and scholarships, Sport North supports northern athletes who demonstrate potential at national and international levels. Its Rising Star program provides funding for youth 14 and under to attend training camps and programs to enhance their regular training. The careers of athletes such as Fort Smith’s Sara Daitch and Mike Argue from the Great Slave riding benefit from Sport North grant programs for elite and high-performance athletes. Sport North is committed to the success of our

athletes at Canada Games, providing special assistance to athletes and coaches through its Excel Northwest Territories program. The federation also provides opportunities for coach development.

Sport North is a strong supporter of school athletics including the ever popular Super Soccer Tournament in Yellowknife. Participation in this event has increased to the point that this year it will be held over two weekends instead of one.

Mr. Speaker, the Sport North Federation is realizing its vision as we see the NWT athletes on the national sports scene and as sports programs across the Northwest Territories foster healthy lifestyles among our people. Sport North’s wide range of programs benefit not only the elite few but offers opportunities for everyone to play. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Mr. Abernethy on February 20, 2009, regarding a meeting to discuss the NGO funding policy. The Department of Municipal and Communities Affairs and the Financial Management Board Secretariat have developed a resource booklet titled Program Guide for Managers: Funding for Non-Government Organizations. The need for this booklet was driven by the valuable work done by Volunteer NWT’s Finance Action Group. Their report both highlighted the need to ensure NGOs had clear and thorough information about current GNWT funding policies and flagged some areas where NGOs would like to see changes.

As a next step, as part of the upcoming Volunteer Summit, the FMBS will be hosting a focus group on March 7, 2009, to consult with NGO representatives on the booklet and other issues with GNWT funding policies prior to finalizing it for public release. The list of potential participants and selection criteria has been distributed to Members for their review and suggestions. For the focus group we are expecting approximately 25 participants which represent a good cross-section of the NGO sector from each region of the NWT. I will distribute the final list of NGOs participating in the focus group by March 5, 2009. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement, I think the public might be getting a little bit confused about all the reviews and studies and analyses we’re undertaking as a government in respect to energy. We all know we have a problem. The problem is that people are finding it difficult to cope with the amount that they have to pay for energy in our communities. That, in a nutshell, is the problem. How are we as a government going to respond to that? Well, I think that all of these reviews, particularly the review of NTPC, might go some ways to figuring out if there’s some way that we can deliver energy in a more cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Speaker, the production, distribution and sale of energy is a very complicated business, but we have to take a very coordinated and cost-effective approach to reviewing this. I’m finding that we at least need these studies to happen in a certain order otherwise it just gets redundant and a little bit ridiculous. I’d like to ask the Premier, does he agree that there should be some order to these reviews taking place or does he think they should just all happen concurrently? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I met with committee and informed them of the process that we’re undergoing with the ATCO proposal the fact that we have these reviews that are out there, one through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee that was launched, as the Member pointed out, in December through Minister Bob McLeod. The one that reacts to the emotion of this Assembly and that is the NTPC review and the review of the ATCO proposal, they will all take...They’ll be in step in the sense we’re going to do the initial review on the rates regulation subsidy and structure. It is due to report back in June. Following that, the report back on the NTPC review will come through the summer. Following that, we’re anticipating to have results back from our first phase review on the ATCO proposal by the fall. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if the review of NTPC were to indicate that there is a more cost-effective and a better, more efficient way of having the Power Corporation operate which would have a positive impact on the rates that people pay in the communities, would that not necessarily impact whether or not we would actually want to entertain the ATCO proposal? I don’t really know all the reasons for entertaining the ATCO proposal, but it seems that the information from one review will have an effect on the necessity of the next one, so I would think it would be wise not to have all of these running concurrently. They cost a lot of money. What is the cost? What’s the price tag on these three undertakings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we’re doing the work internally on all the pieces that need to be done. Minister Bob McLeod could reference the energy rates regulation subsidy review that’s going on, the estimates there. The Power Corporation review is something we’re doing internally. The ATCO proposal right now is at phase one. Until we decide to get to the next step, we will have to look at how much more in depth that will be. Right now we’re using funding from within existing resources. I think, Mr. Speaker, we have to look at, yes, these pieces all will fit a puzzle but we have to ask ourselves when we talk about the constituents and what they’re feeling, as the Member pointed out, their wanting to deal with the cost of living today. We have to look at what we can do in the future that will impact the cost of living in the Territories. We not only have to look at the brutal facts, or the facts that we have today, but we have to look at the possibilities of what can be, Mr. Speaker. And some of this work is putting that together, the possibilities that we can provide cheaper, cleaner energy to the constituents of the North. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the people of the Northwest Territories have very little ability, except through conservation, to affect the rates that they are going to pay. I’m not really sure what the going and listening to people in all the communities...We know what they’re going to say. They’re going to say that the cost of energy in their community is too high and it’s our job as a government to figure out a way that we can offset that.

Maybe we need to look at our Territorial Power Subsidy Program. Maybe we need to look at energy conservation measures. But to have all of these reviews running concurrently, and a lot of the work that they’re proposing to do in the terms of reference has already been done. In the review to consider electricity rates have there not been previous reports done that have extensively canvassed that particular topic and are available to us without going back out and reinventing this?

The work that needs to be done in a number of areas, we have heard from the constituents and from this Assembly who said things have to be done. The status quo wasn’t good enough anymore, so the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee looked at the broad structure of rates and how they’re applied. So for example, yes, past Assemblies have talked about one-rate zones. Should we talk about a conservation zone or rate that would be applied equally across the Territory? How would that be taken by the people of the North? Should we in fact, as this government is looking at through this budget exercise, put in $60 million to look at alternative energies which would stabilize rates and maybe even affect some lower rates in our communities? The bigger piece then goes to the Power Corporation itself, which is, is it operating the most efficiently and effectively? How can it be done better? Is that structure the right structure? That’s the work that has to be done internally on that piece.

As the Member had pointed out, if we are looking at automobiles and we want to sell that automobile or if we want to keep it longer, first thing we have to do is get it in the shop and do an estimate of what needs to be repaired, how should it be fixed, should we tune it up, does it need new tires. There are those questions we need to ask ourselves and then we get to the point of how much money do I have in my pocket. Can I replace one or four tires? Should I do a tune-up at the same time to replace the spark plugs? That’s the work we’re doing right now.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The analogy that the Premier goes on about extensively is a good analogy. That’s why I think there should be a sequence and order to these reviews. If the NTPC is a delivery vehicle for power to people in the Northwest Territories, let’s review that first before we put the ad in the bargain finder and start trying to figure out how much we’re going to sell the Power Corporation for.

There comes a point when we look at all things, and I’ll go back to my history as working in a shop. When we have a vehicle that’s been with us for quite some time and the maintenance side starts to catch up and we have to do some major replacements, and we’re trying to look to the future as to will this vehicle carry us where we need to go, we do need to do some repair on that piece. Before we make that final decision, can I hang onto this for another 10 years, five years, or should I polish this thing up and put it up for sale? That’s a decision we have yet to get to. There is an order and sequence, as I stated. The rates regulation piece will be looked at

and reported back in June. The NTPC review will come back in the summer. And we’ll come back with our first phase review of the proposal that was put on our table. At that point we’ll have a decision of should we move to the next phase and how much effort will we put into it. If we’re going to move to that next phase, then we will have to come forward with a budget to this Assembly about taking a very serious look at our options.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, have questions regarding the Power Corporation. I’ll point out that the Premier quite lively created an analogy of a car. I’ll tell you, the problem with this car is it’s full of Bondo and it’s because the driver has driven it into the ground. It’s the driver that’s the problem. The fact is, there is no direction on this.

I’d like to hear from the Premier where the terms of reference are on these reviews and how they plug into each other. Because they seem to just go haphazardly into it and will converge eventually, and don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. Well, will the Premier explain how they work together and will he also offer to table those terms of reference in this House?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have, quite a number of times when we present ideas and information, met with Members sometimes in committees to try to give information on where we can go. I’m not sure where the Member is at different times, but he’s aware that we have talked about some of these things. We have laid out some of our processes and I have committed to come back to Members at the next stage. We have frameworks in place and we’re working on those final terms of reference. I committed to get back to committee with those pieces. The Member is aware of them. This talking about Bondo and so on and so forth, well, you can play on words, but the simple fact is here is an opportunity for the big picture. Whether it’s this government or the next government, people are calling for cheaper energy to be supplied. So we have to put the pieces in place. We have to plant the seed. We have to do the work so the right decisions can be made. This work is laying that foundation of what can come next and the possibilities of what can come next.

I finally understand it. We have Stevie Wonder over there driving the car. That’s why it’s so banged up. No one knows where they’re going. So I only mean it as someone blind is driving this car in the context of the analogy. The fact is, nobody knows where these plug in and are hoping like heck they are not going to be the solution. Would the Premier put a halt to this, come up with a terms of mandate and show where this plan is going, where this car is going, for better power, better solutions in northern hands?

If I could sing I might try to do something here. The simple fact is I don’t know what car the Member has jumped in. He’s obviously heading down the wrong road.

We have an opportunity through this work to set the course for ourselves and the future generations of the Northwest Territories. We talk about cleaner energy, cheaper energy, and the abundance in the Northwest Territories. We have a huge abundance in the Northwest Territories that can offer cheaper, cleaner energy. How do we get there? The work that is laid out here will help us get there. I believe that and I want to make sure that we investigate all opportunities, because the existing situation that we have today, if we continue to work around that existing framework, I can guarantee you an outcome and it won’t be much different from where we are today.

See, the Premier just doesn’t get it. The fact is, we have all been here for years and have been saying the power rates are too high. I’m not sure where he’s been. Maybe he’s going down the wrong road. The fact is, we’ve been saying the organization is the problem. Everything’s the problem. I’m not sure what information you’re going to get that we haven’t been saying here for years. We have honourable Members who have been struggling for years, including yourself when you were on this side of the House, to raise these issues. So if you’re going to create a discussion just to talk, I don’t see any use of it.

If your intent is to parcel off the NWT Power Corporation what work has been considered in the context of making it northern owned by approaching maybe the, an example like the APG? Approaching our northern development groups to say, look, if we want it northern owned, northern controlled, let’s work with Northerners to do this, rather than giving it to some multinational who’s out for the long run for themselves.

Even the Member said he’s not sure, so I think this work will help us to be sure of the next steps we need to take. In fact, if the Member went through Hansard he would know in some responses I’ve made already around the Power Corporation if there’s been other proposals.

When I met with the regional aboriginal leaders I said, here’s an opportunity. If you want to put in a proposal we’re open to looking at that. The opportunity is there and we’re trying to create that environment so that we do have the best opportunity before us of supplying clean energy, cheap energy, and it makes living affordable in the Northwest Territories. Where we’re going, the work we’re doing, is all in place. If we’re going to stop because of some issues of misunderstanding or jumping in the wrong vehicle or facing the wrong direction on the horse, we’ll help set him straight.