Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, as well, I would like to speak about the issue of the consideration of the ATCO proposal as it relates to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Premier for coming down to Hay River and meeting with us after the end of the last session as we requested him to do. We had a chance to meet with the employees and then have a much larger meeting at

the Power Corp itself with the management and the employees together. I thought it was a very productive exercise. Unfortunately we hadn’t done that sooner because I think a lot of the concern and misunderstanding about what was being looked at could have been avoided and averted if we had taken a slightly different approach on this. Like so many other things that our government looks at, sometimes when things are not communicated well it gives the opportunity for there to be a big resistance built up to something which if clearly explained, people might have more understanding and they might be able to support it.

My colleague Mr. Abernethy mentioned the words “sale of the corporation.” I have never yet heard that the sale of NTPC was on the table. The only thing I have heard was that an unsolicited proposal for a merger between ATCO and NTPC was brought forward. We have to be clear in our language and I know that the UNW was here at the Legislative Assembly and, of course, understandably, they are concerned about government jobs and would oppose privatization.

As the Premier explained to the employees in Hay River that day, is that it is incumbent on this government to explore and look at the business possibilities and potentials of partnering with an organization who has much more money for energy development, hydro development than we do as a government. One of our problems is that we do have a debt wall and we have limited resources. So as we move forward, we’re trying to balance the interests of those very valued NTPC employees at headquarters and across the Northwest Territories with the interest of the consumers of the Northwest Territories, and it would not be responsible of this government not to consider options that may be able to really be in everyone’s best interests. Certainly if the ATCO merger did proceed, they would need good and qualified employees as well.

So I think that the meeting in Hay River was good and later today I’ll be asking the Premier questions so that people can be further updated and informed. Thank you.