The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government has had some sessions with Avalon to discuss their project. Certainly, valued added is a priority for our government and also we want to work with them to facilitate that. So our first order of business is to determine what their requirements are.

As you know, the federal government is responsible for mining in the Northwest Territories and as such they collect royalties for all developments. So it makes it a little difficult for us to actually provide financial support. But, nevertheless, we are working very hard to identify areas that we can have value added. We’re working with the new Canadian North CanNor facility that has been set up by the federal government. We will be holding, in conjunction with them, a workshop in March to determine value-added opportunities.

With regard to power, we met with the principals of Avalon in Vancouver at the Cordilleran Roundup and they advised us what their requirements are. They need six megawatts of power for operations and an additional six megawatts for heating. They have advised that they are also looking at properties in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and they are looking to see what we can offer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I hope that in looking at what we can offer, we do not put too much emphasis on that federal responsibility and the royalties not accruing to the Government of the Northwest Territories, because we have the diamond mines as a very clear example of where this government went to extreme lengths -- and I applaud this, I’m not criticizing this -- with diamond secretariats and training programs through the college and a lot of financial support, loan guarantees for processing diamonds. There was a whole real spectrum of support for the diamond mines and we didn’t get any royalties from that either. So now this is something that has the potential of really benefiting the South Slave region. So I would like to ask the Minister who has jurisdiction over the excess power generated at the Taltson Dam at this time and what is the amount of that. How many megawatts of power is the surplus

and who has jurisdiction over that at this time? Thank you.

They amount that Avalon is requesting, or has identified as requiring, is available through the current production at Taltson. But the way it works, the current timelines of the different projects would indicate that that power would go to the diamond mines when and if or when the Taltson Hydro expansion is completed and the transmission lines are done. We don’t have a process for reserving power. So it’s basically on a first-come, first-served basis. If that power is made available on an immediate basis it would be through the regulated side and it would have to go through and obtain PUB approval. Thank you.

I believe that the power purchase agreements that are contemplated for the diamond mines are outside of the regulated process because it is being sold to business, it’s not being distributed to consumers. The purpose of the PUB is really to protect the interests of consumers, usually considered on a broad scale. Why would the power purchase agreement framework or model that is contemplated for the diamond mines not be appropriate in the case of the purchasing power for a processing plant for Avalon Ventures at Pine Point? Thank you.

The legislation that was passed in the 15th Assembly with regard to the

NWT Hydro Act specifically excluded the transmission lines to the diamond mines. The reason for doing that was because the power purchase agreements negotiated with the diamond mines would be negotiated and, obviously, the hydro proponents would be seeking the best rate in terms of making profits. With regard to the regulated side, the whole focus is to keep the rates as low as possible. As such, the legislation provides for preferential rates to be negotiated on the regulated side. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand that the Taltson is being expanded and I understand the potential demand of the diamond mines, if that happens. But, Mr. Speaker, we make the legislation. Sure, the act was put in place in the 15th Assembly, but why could

there not be an exclusion made as well to supply power for this sizeable customer in the South Slave? Why couldn’t the same principles of business and making a profit apply to some kind of a negotiation for power supply for Avalon Ventures?

I think it’s very important that we have an opportunity before us here to keep this secondary processing industry in the Northwest Territories. I think we need to get creative. We made the rules in the first place, we made the laws. That’s what we do. What can we do to accommodate a viable offer

to Avalon to try and keep this very important industry, processing aspect of this industry, in the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the will of the House I’m sure that anything’s possible. I just wanted to point out that on the regulated side, the cost of operating the power facilities has to be recovered. I believe that what Avalon is looking for are rates that are similar to what are being provided in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In the Northwest Territories the commercial rate is 7.4 cents per kilowatt hour plus a one cent rider. That’s delivery. So that number is higher than what Saskatchewan Power charges Nico, for example. But certainly if we were to make an exception for Avalon, then we would have to change our legislation to find a way so that that doesn’t fall under the regulated power side. And, also, who would pay for the lower costs? I guess those are two main considerations that would have to be done if we’re going to change legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have people in the regions that deal with clientele. Yes, we deal with a computer system, but that’s just one piece of it. We continue to train our staff that they can have PR training into the communities, public relations. I think that’s the key. We have client service officers in most of the communities. For those without client service officers, we have dedicated individuals who go to the communities to deal with clientele. So there has been constant training that’s happening within our department. We will continue to provide those services, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

In the area of training, would the Minister commit to ensure that all client service officers are trained in the area of employment counselling? Thank you.

That is one area that we continue to focus on with our department.

The client service officers take various training to deal with the subsidies, the program delivery, the client face-to-face interaction, public relations. That area can certainly be part of the training package that we continue to provide our services to client service officers as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Would the Minister look at changing the unearned and earned income exemptions so that there is an incentive for individuals to go to work as opposed to what appears to be a bit of a disincentive? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We did make some changes to our program back in 2007. We did a review of our programming. We have made some drastic changes from increasing benefits to Northwest Territories. Also, just adding $5.1 million into the program itself. Those are substantial changes. We continue to work with the unearned and earned income. We do provide various training programs as well for those individuals that would like to get off income support, a Productive Choices program, but we continue to create these programs so those individuals can work with us. Mr. Speaker, we will continue to provide that valuable information to clientele.

The Member is asking for another review. We just did a review. That might be something we may have to look at down the road. I think it is too soon. We just did one two years ago. With that, that is where we are at, Mr. Speaker. We made some drastic changes to that. Mahsi.

Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, I think the review of the Income Support Program didn’t achieve desired results. I would like to ask the Minister if he could commit to reviewing the program with an emphasis on employment and using the idea of income support person going to work as a key component to the program. I was wondering if the Minister could commit to looking at that again. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that could be part of the key component of discussions that we can have on a going forward basis. I can certainly commit to consider that as part of the discussions that we could have. Like I said, we just did a review and another review could be undertaken down the road, but I can’t commit today when that is going to happen. But I will take that into consideration and work with the Members on that. Mahsi.

The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the October session I asked questions regarding the COR program, the Certificate of Recognition to the Minister of Public Works about implementing it into the territorial tendering process which would help raise standards in our tendering process. We would also get better and more proficient tenders that proceed on our government projects. Mr. Speaker, at the time, I had inquired with the Minister if he would look into that process to see if we could move down that road as, for example, the Yukon has, and start with large projects and work our way down to the smaller ones until all our projects reflect in that regard. Of course, at the time I had asked the Minister to be kept up to speed and whatnot. I haven’t heard any updates for quite some time. I am just curious as today stands, where is the development of the implementation of this COR recognition program in our government tendering process and does Public Works still support this initiative? Thank you.

Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, we did commit to providing correspondence to the Member. I apologize if that hasn’t happened. My information tells me that we have had some discussions on jurisdictions. We have had some discussion with some of the NGOs. We have to commit to have that information compiled and provided to them. I don’t have that all with me today. Thank you.