Mr. Speaker, the question is to myself and the Housing Minister. I am sure the Housing Minister is listening carefully as well. I think this area, certainly I can commit from my department, to meet with community representatives because we do have representatives in the region to meet with the community, meet with the Members, to highlight what we do cover. If there is a way that we can change our policy, then we can certainly discuss that on an ongoing basis.

Within our Income Security Program, there are always reviews and changes that occur. So, certainly, but at the same time I think that tenants, individuals being assessed, should consult with their employer as well to highlight that their settlement allowance should be under vacation travel. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Will this government review all northern settlement allowances implications of the tenants living in the

small and remote communities with the high cost of living? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, within our own income security area, we can certainly do our part, but most of the program is under the federal government as well with the settlement allowance. So the federal government needs to…It’s their jurisdiction, but we will deal within our own territorial government our Income Security Program that we can work with. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really look forward to bringing the Minister on a constituency tour and letting him hear it firsthand and all my Ministers are welcome. Thank you.

I didn’t hear a question there, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That area of the Taltson expansion would probably fall within either myself in the Power Corporation but, more importantly, because it is a new initiative we are looking at under the Ministerial Energy Committee, I would like to redirect that to Minister Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We made some considerable progress recently in our discussions with the diamond mines on the Power Purchase Agreements. So certainly we have the capacity to conclude those negotiations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not saying it isn’t a good business case built on the principles of sound economics, but, Mr. Speaker, I have been informed by people in the know that the capacity levels required by the three diamond mines could be up to the range of 88 megawatts. Of course, if I’ve taken the math provided by Industry, Tourism and Investment’s NWT Energy Facts newsletter. When I consider the capacity levels, I am not sure they are operating on the same page. Mr. Speaker, when was the last time the Department of ITI has gone back to get some clarity on demands required by these three diamond mines? Because if you follow the old newsletter, they only need 43 megawatts, which is 50 percent, I understand, of what their present need is. So when was the last time those figures have been updated? Thank you.

We operate on a first provider basis and there is a corporation that is leading the negotiations and they are the corporation that would be the one that would be involved with constructing the expansion. That information is updated on a regular basis, so we know exactly what the diamond mines’ requirements are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate that it’s through that arm’s-length process, but, Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the figures are correct and current, because as I understand it, BHP alone may be requiring up to 30 megawatts which would consume all the potential expansion of the Taltson considering the present day use by Hay River, Fort Smith and I believe Fort Res. So when you add that demand, we may only be able to supply power to one mine, not considering the need of up to 35 megawatts of Diavik and Snap Lake, which is about 22. So, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be willing to provide some updated figures to demonstrate that we are on top of this situation and would he be able to table any information to be able to show that we are presenting a workable solution getting this partnership agreement? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do provide regular updates to the standing committees and certainly, I think we have been requested to provide a briefing. We will invite, as a committee, the Member along and we are developing a Hydro Strategy and the hydro, Taltson hydro expansion is not the only hydro project that we are looking at. With our Hydro Strategy, I think you will see that we are looking at developing a significant amount of hydro energy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t raise this issue because I am against the project. It’s quite the opposite. I am for the project. But the problem is I am not sure the project is being designed in a way that it can meet the capacity and demands of the three diamond mines. Mr. Speaker, that’s the issue. Considering it’s been at least a full year that these negotiations about the power purchasing agreements have been going on, what has been the delay in getting those signed so we can go forward on this project being assured that it can be a business case that works for the NWT? Thank you.

There are a number of issues that are involved and issues we are working on. We are quite prepared to sit down and provide a briefing to outline those issues and there is also still work going on in fine-tuning the actual expansion project, so we are quite prepared to brief the Member on this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Premier and I am sure it will come as no surprise that I am going to ask the Premier some questions on performance bonuses. I ask every session. As I have said before and I will say again, I don’t really have a problem with performance bonuses when bonuses are actually given for performance above and beyond expectations or for accomplishing significant milestones. It’s now the '09-10 fiscal year. The employees, the excluded employees, senior managers and deputy ministers are in a period of time when they can earn more bonuses. So I am curious if the Premier has met with his deputy ministers and has set some targets and milestones with them that can be used to assess whether they, in fact, earn or have performance above expectations at the end of the fiscal year to earn those bonuses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we are speaking about the previous year, I have had meetings with deputies for the, I believe it’s the previous year on that subject matter. I haven’t talked about this year. Those meetings would be set up and organized. The first meeting I had as Premier with the deputies, we did lay out the expectations and how it would go going forward,

but I did have one round and set and informed them of my decisions in that area. Thank you.

I am happy to hear that the Premier has had those meetings with the staff in the previous fiscal years. I am curious when he will have those meetings with the staff in this fiscal year. I think it’s really important that we send a message from the top down that bonuses are, in fact, bonuses and must be earned through exceptional or performance above and beyond which is expected. If the Premier were to meet with his staff and set those expectations, we would know what they are being rated against later, but it would also send a message down that the deputy ministers should be doing that with their senior managers and their excluded employees. So I am curious: When will the Premier be actually meeting with his deputy head to set those expectations that must be met in order to get paid, and what will be worthy of bonuses, and will he be encouraging those expectations that must be met in order to get paid and what will be worthy of bonuses, and will he be encouraging his senior managers and deputy ministers to use that same model down through government to ensure that bonuses are earned, not expected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this area of performance for pay or pay for performance has been discussed quite a number of times and helped in the discussions I had around making a decision around deputies and the expectations from there. It is following those meetings as we give them the decisions and outline what the expectations are as we go forward. We follow up on that with letters to them and through the Ministers as well. So we are about to engage in the next round. I haven’t had dates as of yet, but I will inform Members when that is about to occur. Thank you.