Mr. Speaker, I thought the main objective or primary purpose would be to keep the GNWT dollars in the NWT. I thought the level playing field was a result of trying to do that. Will the Minister go back to the small communities, maybe not every small community, not a full consultation process, but to some of the small communities to hear first hand from the small community contractors what the issues are with the BIP? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if there is an indication from the Members here that it’s something that we should do, we would be prepared to do that. Right now we haven’t had any indication that this is something that the majority of Members want us to do. I would be prepared to put that forward as part of the transitional arrangements with the next Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if he could do more analysis on BIP. I would like to ask the Minister if they can do adjustments to contracts that were already let in the small communities, a new set of adjustments based on 15 percent local preference only and maybe discuss the results with me so that I am able to also determine what the issues are when I am talking to local contractors in Fort Res and Lutselk’e. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we would be prepared to provide the Member with some information as to what the issues would be with proceeding with what the Member is proposing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is probably to the Minister with Intergovernmental Affairs to deal with the Food Mail Program when they are meeting with... Sorry, maybe to the Minister of Health, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health, then, for the Food Mail Program. When a constituent of mine phoned Yellowknife and got the order, the order was then delivered to Buffalo Airways. When it was shipped to Deline, the food was pretty well all frozen and it was pretty well spoiled. In terms of this Food Mail Program, if there is a monitoring as to where can people go to register a complaint or to get reimbursed for the food that is spoiled due to the Food Mail Program system.

The honourable Minister of Health, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, this is a federal program administered by the federal government, but I would be happy to just sit down with him and get the details and inquire on his behalf. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister sits down with the federal Minister on this program here, can the federal Minister and the Minister talk about this type of situation that can be blamed here and simply for residents in my region when situations like this happens, that they can pick up the phone, either in their own language in Denewa or in English, to register a complaint or can say the food that they have received is spoiled and they need to do something different right away?

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, I would be happy to get detailed information and get back to the Member, as well as finding out perhaps a process in place that people could inquire to. I will get back to the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am hoping this cold weather would be cleared up as soon as possible, because one of the situations that the Food Mail Program runs into in this 40 below, it is very hard to keep the products warm and fresh. It is no fault of anybody. That is the situation that we run into with the Food Mail Program. When the Minister has the opportunity to talk to the federal Minister, when she gets the details from me that she could again relay this to the federal Minister, when will the Minister have the first opportunity to discuss this with the federal government?

Mr. Speaker, I need to first get the information. I am not sure if I will be talking to the Minister on a specific situation like that, but I would be happy to inquire on the basis of facts to

get the answer for that specific situation and, in terms of a process, where could a person go to inquire when something like that happens.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope it doesn’t take a week or three weeks. I hope the Minister and I could talk right away after this session here, get the facts and she can come back saying I can get a hold of the Minister tomorrow or next week and we will have this discussion. It is not too complicated. It is very simple. That is what I am asking the Minister so I can go back to Deline and my constituents and say we are acting on the issue right away. I hope it doesn’t take a long time. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I know some things take longer than we would like, but the Member knows that we have been able to have pretty quick turnaround on things, understanding, though, in this situation, that I need to talk to a federal body. I need to have my officials talk to the federal body about the specific situation he is asking. I will undertake to look into it as soon as possible. I will get together with him as soon as possible as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Next I have the honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation some questions with regard to Jean Marie River. The chief had called me today and they’re really having issues with a lot of power outages in that community with the generators. I’d just like to ask the Minister if he’s aware of it and what exactly is going on with these generators. Thank you very much.

Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been kept up to date on the outages that have occurred and some of the concerns around there. I know, for example, in February there were a number of outages, some from a 10-minute outage to about a 40-minute outage. Some of it is equipment related and we’re investigating what’s a growing concern.

I do know that in our past in our discussions about alternative energies, the Jean Marie facility was looked at I’ll have to get information of where that sits. I’m looking at replacement of our engines there to a newer model, but we are investigating if that was feasible, because we do know that we’re

coming up to retrofit time. But I’ll get additional information back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Does the Minister know if it’s still in the capital plan then, and if so, is it slated for replacement this year? Thank you.

Thank you. I’ll have to get back to the Member on that, because the Power Corp has its capital replacement process as part of its rate structures as to when it can replace equipment. I do know that overall, from our side looking at the old Energy Coordinating Committee process, that Jean Marie River was looked at as a possibility of looking at biomass operations and I’ll have to get the latest on that. I don’t believe replacement is for this coming year, but they are looking at when that actual replacement comes up to look at what we can do. But I’ll get the latest from the NWTPC and then get that back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Also, just given the importance of the power outages for the residents of Jean Marie, I’d like to ask the Minister if he could come up with a plan and have his staff get over there and come up with at least an interim solution to all those power outages and monitor their generators. Thank you.

Thank you. The issues of the outages is one that I’ve asked to get some additional information on from the Power Corporation and I’ll get that back to the Member, as well as I’ll have them communicate with the community. Thank you.