We’ve taken a number of steps in the last little while to try and address some of the issues that the Member speaks of. We’ve had a number of vacant units in the communities. Through an Affordable Housing Initiative, we built a lot of these units on spec, assuming we were going to have the clients for them. Unfortunately, we overestimated the clients who might be eligible, so we turned a lot of those units into public housing units to try and address the public housing shortage.

The units that the Member speaks of, we’re just in the process now of... Those again were built trying to transition people from public housing into homeownership. Again, we overestimated the number of clients that we might have. So, we are in the process of converting those particular units into

public housing because the need now is for more public housing. I think we’ve pretty well tapped out a lot of our homeownership clients, so we’re going to convert those into public housing like we did in a number of other communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. We’ve made a lot of progress in the last five years in small communities, but it’s been at the cost of people in Yellowknife and especially people who have moved here from other communities. This is totally unacceptable. The Minister is continuing to focus away from Yellowknife and it’s getting ridiculous.

Reallocating existing housing stocks between programs and changing rules regarding eligibility does not alter the basic fact that there are not enough homes in the territory for the people who live here.

How many new housing units does the corporation plan this year, and how many of those homes will actually be assigned tenancy to the most vulnerable citizens of the Northwest Territories, the homeless? I’d appreciate that information for both the Northwest Territories and for Yellowknife. Mahsi.

We apparently budgeted $45 million to put into housing programs for this year. I think we’ve got about 45 new or replacement public housing units, and I will confirm that number and share it with the Members. Plus, I’ll also share the allocation.

The Housing Corporation, as the Member said, I think has seen a change in the last five years. We’ve tried to address a number of housing issues. We’re taking over the funding from ECE. I think we’re going to be able to access probably 55 more units in the capital, plus a number of the other programs in the capital that we support through contributions, and then we’re working with the developer, I think through the ECE transfer that offered us a few options. So, we’ve taken another 19 units for the capital.

So, with the limited budget we have and the challenges we face, I think we’re continuing to try and address some of the need for homes and places to stay across the Northwest Territories, and I disagree with the point that we’re doing it at the expense of Yellowknife. I don’t think that’s true. I think we’re treating all regions across the Northwest Territories fairly, and if you look at the numbers in our budget, you will see that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a follow-up to my Member’s statement earlier today, I would like to reference from edited Hansard, March 11, 2015, where Minister Miltenberger stated, “Depending how we evolve in terms of distribution and generation, we have to look at things as I raised previously, the role and relationship of the Power Corporation. Right now it is a stand-alone power corporation with a board. Given our close working relationship and financial investment, is that the best structure, could it be structured more efficiently and effectively in any other way?”

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister elaborate what he meant when he stated these comments in the House? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of the Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has shown himself to be a very vocal and aggressive defender and supporter of powerful money, multinational interests headquartering outside of the Northwest Territories and clearly today he’s going to vent his spleen on the Power Corporation, which is, I think, a very good corporation that we’d all be lost without.

On the issue of dividends, let’s make the distinction between the Power Corporation and a private company. The people of the Northwest Territories own the Power Corporation. There’s one shareholder. Rather than take a dividend, we reinvest all the money back into the system in the Northwest Territories to make sure we provide services. Over time we have had a relationship with the Power Corporation that has become closer because there has been significant things that have happened that if we did not have that relationship, would have led to very, very significant increases in the rates. Let me specifically talk about the money we put in the life of this government to cushion the shock of the increases due to diesel costs. Let me talk about the $20 million we put into low water that would have had to have been covered by anybody providing that service.

So, that relationship has become very close. The Auditor General has pointed out that that relationship has been close and that we should look at how we should change our reporting relationship because of that close working relationship. The Power Corporation is the main vehicle for energy policy for the Government of the Northwest Territories and, in many cases, social policy in the Northwest Territories. When we work to do alternative energy, when we work to minimize our greenhouse gas emissions, when we look at LED lights across the Northwest Territories, when we look at converting Colville Lake to solar with

batteries to cut our diesel and our greenhouse gases, when we look at the solar in Fort Simpson. Those type of things, they’re a part of the government’s policy, energy policy, carried out on our behalf by the corporation that we own as a collective.

So, those are some of the musings and the Auditor General has flagged them for us, as well, in a very practical reality in terms of how do we account for the money that the Power Corp spends in a relationship with the territorial government.

I’m a supporter of the truth, transparency and accountability, so the Minister of Finance can characterize all he wishes. I’d like to go back to November 7th to the Northern News

article where the Finance Minister was openly musing about the NTPC’s demise, suggesting that NTPC be taken over by the GNWT and, as he stated, “If we hadn’t given them this $80 million, I shudder to think what the rates would be.”

Again, can the Minister elaborate why he was so keen on threatening to dissolve the NWT Power Corporation? Thank you.

I wasn’t expecting to dissolve the Power Corporation. The Power Corporation is a critical vehicle for the territorial government and its energy policy. However, the relationship has evolved over the years. There was a time, many Legislative Assemblies ago, when there was a dividend required from the Power Corporation, but as things have changed, cost of energy has gone up, the decision was made to not require the dividend, to reinvest whatever money they have back into keeping the costs as low as possible.

We have had to engage with the Power Corporation clearly in a way that it doesn’t make it as stand-alone as it would be in some other jurisdictions and we have other configurations that we live with. For example, we have a Housing Corporation that has no board that is part of the territorial government and is our vehicle for delivering public housing, market housing in the Northwest Territories.

So, post-devolution, as we evolve, we have to look at that relationship with the Power Corporation, and as we look at the borrowing limit and we look at generation initiatives and who is going to drive those and the direction that the government is going to provide to the Power Corporation to do the things that the Legislature and the government needs done, that means a close working relationship and, once again, point to the fact that the Auditor General himself has pointed out that we need to change how we account for our relationship with the Power Corporation because of that close working relationship. Thank you.

Now, months later, the Minister in his own press release of May 26, 2015, clearly and

boldly supports NTPC’s participation in an RFP process in Hay River, and he points out this “could potentially lead to lower electricity rates.”

To the Minister: Why the flip-flop? In November, you’re shuddering to dissolve the Power Corporation and now you’re praising their ability to somehow lower electricity rates. I think the people are a little bit confused. Can the Minister explain this flip-flop?

The government has been very consistent in its approach to energy and to the Power Corporation to how we deliver things, how we deliver power, our emphasis on the cost of living, and it’s very, very simple. The issue that the Member refers to, we have the proof before us. You have one community at 31 cents per kilowatt, you have two neighbouring communities at 21 cents per kilowatt.

Can we effect a positive change? Yes, we can. I believe that we will significantly close that gap if that opportunity is presented to the Power Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Too bad it’s a done deal, as it appears to be here. The NWT Power Corporation, by its own statutes, is more than able to submit a bid for an open RFP process. However, this week we clearly saw political interference and action on our Minister of Finance responsible for NTPC, and our Premier jointly endorsed a ticker tape parade press release in support. The question we need to ask is why. Why would this Cabinet need to endorse and intervene with an open public process? Can the Minister explain this?

Some would suggest that intervening in a process that’s already underway would be meeting with one of the proponents after the public process has started, as has occurred. However, the issue here is very clear. It’s a political one. I’m the Minister responsible. I’m very well aware of the political sensitivities that this issue has, that if the Power Corporation would have gone ahead without political due diligence we would be in a considerably different situation. Then we would be getting pilloried and vilified and hectored for different reasons. We have covered the bases. We have looked at the issue carefully. I took it back to Cabinet. Cabinet looked at it and said, “Power Corporation, carry on with your business.” We went to committee and we’ve talked to them about that. We wanted to politically, as the shareholder, make sure that we were in sync with what the Power Corporation is technically able to do on its own, but politically it made only eminent sense to have us touch those bases.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We looked at this a few years back and we had contracted a company to take a look at the scenarios and how we could do our bid adjustments. A couple of different scenarios were put in place and at that time it wasn’t considered necessary to be looking at the changes to the current adjustments. But that’s not to say that as we go forward, Members and the business community here in the Northwest Territories may have other ideas on how we can strengthen the Business Incentive Policy here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I appreciate the history of the review of this Business Incentive Policy, and maybe in future I can look at those findings. In that review, or even now since it hasn’t been reviewed since 2010, has the Minister spoken to some of our key stakeholders in our local communities? I’m not talking about key stakeholders like the NWT Chamber of Commerce, NWT Construction Association, none of these territorial stakeholders. We need to hear from the local stakeholders that do business in our communities and provide jobs for our local residents.

Has the Minister consulted with the local businesses to see what they are saying and not what the territorial organizations are saying? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If we were going to go down the path of opening up a review of the BIP, key stakeholders like the NWT Chamber of Commerce, the NWT Construction Association and other industry associations would certainly be part of that.

For the most part, we believe that business here in the Northwest Territories is benefitting from the current BIP that we have in place. We have heard some concerns that it needs to be strengthened. There needs to be more protection for what I would deem as true northern businesses with headquarters here in the Northwest Territories and employees here in the Northwest Territories.

Again, this is something that, as we continue to move on, I know that we are getting late in the life of this government, but it could be something that is flagged in the transition to the next government. If the Members feel that there’s enough concern out there about the status of it today, it could be something that we could look at as we move forward to the 18th Legislative Assembly. Thank

you.

As I mentioned, and as the Minister knows, as mentioned in some of the ministerial statements, our economy is slow and in some of the regions and some of the communities there is hardly any work or no work at all. If we can start looking at when we are delivering contracts, we do in fact try to increase the local content or increase the amount of work in that project that a local business can do.

Has the Minister consulted and looked at what businesses we have out there – I know we do have a registry – that can focus on doing the business that we put out RFPs and contracts and they ensure that our local businesses do get that part of the contract? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We do do that type of work, and I guess a good case in point is the Tuk Inuvik Highway. It was very important that the money stay in the North and that local contractors were involved there. We see the benefit of that with the employment levels in both communities of Tuktoyaktuk and also in Inuvik and other communities in the Beaufort-Delta as well.

There are ways the government can continue to emphasize the importance of keeping money here in the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to look at opportunities to do just that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.