We’ve been spending that money to get more detail and information in order to finalize the Hydro Strategy and I’d like to ask Mr. Vician to go into more detail. He’s been working directly with NTEC on this, Mr. Chair.

Deputy Minister Vician.

Thank you, Mr. Vician. Mr. Bromley.

I appreciate that information from the deputy minister. The $1.25 million probably wouldn’t cover all that. I think there’s another four-point-something million to cover most of those items including at least some of the Bear River stuff and the Whati project and in-stream hydro and Lutselk'e. I guess I’m trying to figure out how the dollars, $1.25. million, is being spent on the Hydro Strategy specifically versus on the work to develop hydro, so if there’s any clarification there, I’d appreciate it. Also, there was some mention of dollars going towards Deze, I think it was, for the Taltson project, and I’d like to know what that amount is. Thank you.

Thank you. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya and Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this stage most of the money that would be spent would be for planning and it would increase as we go forward. There are still some aspects of the project that would have to be worked out. The delegation that included MLA Bromley, I felt that the potential was there, the technology was there that could be used in the Northwest Territories. I guess a part of that that still has to be worked out is the Deline delegation was interested in taking over or becoming the builders and also having the rights to the technology in the Northwest Territories. That is kind of a different spin that we have to look at to see whether that’s possible, because that would mean working with the company that does have the patent rights right now to see whether they’re interested in going down that road. But, certainly, the technology is there that could be utilized for Deline. Thank you.

Well, Mr. Chair, it does seem that we’re moving forward to hopefully actual construction on the Bear River to have a hydro plant on the Bear River for the community of Deline.

On the other issue of the Taltson Hydro, I know that the Taltson has done a lot of work. There are things that still need to be discussed. I still think that it’s a viable project and that we could continue to have that project maybe not moving right now, probably just on life support for a year or two before we can see if there’s some movement on the mines or there are other initiatives out there that certainly could benefit from the Taltson Hydro expansion. I just wanted to pass that on to the Minister. It’s going to be the decision on his colleagues and with

our support to continue on with the Taltson. I just wanted to make that comment on that point there.

I want to get back to the hydro in the Sahtu that, again, we look forward to seeing some further steps to the construction of the Deline hydro initiative, and appreciate the Minister for providing support on the...(inaudible)...Lake hydro feasibility on the hydro and other areas that the people in the Sahtu felt that could benefit them. More comments to the Minister. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. I think hydro is a very exciting area. As I indicated, the Premier will be briefing committee in the near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Next on my list is Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ve got a couple of questions here. First of all, the Minister has spoken about, and I think, certainly, Members are aware, and I think the general public also is aware, that we conducted an electricity review. We made some changes and we have reduced our power rates considerably. I know that it is recently put into place but I’d like to know from the Minister, since this is a new program and it’s some fairly major changes, some of which are still to be put into place, but what are the plans for the department to evaluate this particular system and the set up that we have at this moment? What are we doing to evaluate it, not right away but, say, in a year’s time or in 18 months’ time? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, first of all, these changes are regulated by the Public Utilities Board so they’ll be monitoring the impacts of the changes. They are working under guidelines that had been set by this government that we communicated to the Public Utilities Board, and we will be making changes to the legislation. As well, as we had indicated with regard to ongoing monitoring of the reduced prices, the reduced commercial rates, that those rate savings are passed on to the customers in the form of lower prices. So we will be working with the Stats Bureau to monitor the cost of goods in the communities and also we will be interacting with the retailers to make sure that we have a transparent process so that we can see that those savings are passed on. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I wasn’t actually asking about monitoring, although I am very glad to hear that we will be doing some monitoring, I was asking about an evaluation of the new system. To me, those are different things. Monitoring is seeing how things are performing and gathering facts, which is what I heard the Minister say. Evaluation, to me, is looking at the system,

looking at the facts, and determining whether or not this is what we want to continue to do. We have a two-year period right now in terms of the money that the GNWT is putting into the system. In the two-year time period we need to know whether or not this system is working so that we can make the proper decision as to whether or not further changes are required, whether we make changes for the better or whether we go back to the old system, heaven forbid.

I guess there are a number of different ways we could evaluate it. We could use the Program Review Office to look at how efficient or effective these changes were. We will monitor on an ongoing basis in conjunction with the Public Utilities Board and I think the main test will be that these rates are out there and that the lower costs are passed on to the consumers. We will be monitoring as a department and as a government.

Thanks to the Minister. This is just a comment but I didn’t hear the Minister say that an evaluation is planned for and I would encourage strongly the department to in 18 months, perhaps even two years, do an evaluation of this new program to determine whether or not it’s actually working. To me, as I said before, monitoring is not evaluating.

I have another question with regard to the project at Fort Simpson, the in-river hydro system. I may have missed it, I’m sorry if I have, but I know that there was some difficulty with that turbine and I just wondered where that project is at. Is it dead in the water, so to speak, or has it been put back on line?

With regard to evaluation, if what’s seen to be required would be for us to hire a consultant and to do an evaluation I’m sure we could do that.

With regard to the hydrokinetic project in Fort Simpson, the project started this summer. It was designed to produce 14 to 15 kilowatt hours per day and it was only producing at four or five. There was some problem getting it to work at maximum efficiency. The deflectors that were in place weren’t designed to deal with deadheads, I guess they call it; those trees that are submerged and float just below the surface. It came and it moved the hydrokinetic turbine. We spent some time getting it fixed and running. My understanding is it will be put back on next year. Whether it will be done in Fort Simpson or some other community remains to be seen.

That’s great. Thank you to the Minister and thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Next on my list is Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too have questions regarding the grants and contributions around the Hydro Strategy. I was to

understand that they were looking at regional strategies for each of the different regions to look at the hydro potential in each of those regions. I’d like to know where we are with that work and is it part of the overall strategy going forward. Is that part and parcel of the $1.2 million that’s being spent? How are we going to pull those type of regional... Do we have a territorial strategy that’s looking at it from the confines of regional potential for hydro?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. McLeod.