Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the same as my colleague and as yourself, as we know Mr. Whitford is a man of many titles and one he is also is a Yellowknife North resident, so I want to recognize him today and welcome him to the House. I also want to recognize a good friend and my former employer, Manuel Jorge. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize my wife, Anne Sebert, and her son Peter Reid in the audience.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Have we missed anyone in the gallery? I'd like to welcome everyone to our proceedings. It's always nice to have an audience in the gallery. Masi. Item 8, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Department of Municipal and Community Affairs recently commissioned in the Sutcliffe Report to review MACA's mandate and goals in support of recreation and physical activities, and to make recommendations about how to manage lottery funds and operations in support of our revised mandate goals. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please provide some information about who the Sutcliffe Group consulted in the development of their report and recommendations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Consultation to develop the Sutcliffe Report was actually done fairly comprehensive in my opinion, so it included two rounds of consultation with sports and rec groups and other stakeholders from across the Northwest Territories. The first round of consultations consisted of 17 people in person and telephone interviews with representatives from Municipal and Community Affairs, sports, rec and youth division, territorial and regional sports organizations, the NWT Association of Communities and local government administrators of the NWT.

In addition, interviews with representatives from similar sports and rec divisions in the Yukon and Nunavut took place. The second round of consultations provided stakeholders with an opportunity to review and comment in writing on the set of draft recommendations and proposal developed by the Sutcliffe Group with several submissions that were received from that feedback. Finally, the consultant led an online webinar as well as a one-day policy workshop to support the development of the policy statement on recreation, sport and physical activity for the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for her answer. Mr. Speaker, one of the recommendations of the report was to establish an NWT sport recreation and physical activity/physical literacy policy. Has the department developed this policy? If so, what is it meant to do?

Yes, a draft NWT Sport Recreation and Physical Activity Policy has been developed that will be used to guide the funding and operational decision-making for the department. This policy is an internal document though and doesn't represent the whole NWT Sectorial Policy which we'll be looking at a later date.

I again thank the Minister for her answer. Can the Minister explain how the department has been able to engage stakeholders, specifically Sports North, as a means forward with the implementation of the Sutcliffe recommendations and the development of an NWT physical activity/literacy strategy?

So moving forth with it and actually getting more consultation, we've actually already met with Sport North organization. We've talked to them about how we see their role. They've decided where they see their role as well. They'll be providing a business case to us within the next month or so. As well as that, we've also committed to meeting all of the five sports organizations to come together, and so we can actually talk more broadly on what are the results in the Sutcliffe Report, where they see a policy going, some of the limitations and the assets of the current policy that we use for the funding and operations.

Masi. Oral Questions. Member for Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for her answer. The Sutcliffe Report had 18 recommendations and one of the recommendations was about the funding relationship. When will the department begin implementing recommendations as listed in the Sutcliffe Report? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So the Sutcliffe Report was actually received in January 2016 and it was shared with the affected organizations for their comment on April 2016, so not that long ago. Between April and July, the department took a comprehensive review and analysis of the report. On August 19th, the former Minister of MACA announced that the department's modified approach to western Canada's lottery funding and the creation of a new NWT Sports Recreation and Physical Activity Funding Policy which will be used to guide our funding allocations and our operational components.

The department is also moving forward now to make the required legislative, contractual and human resources changes to bring the operations and revenue of the Western Canada Lottery Program inside the Governments of the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation. Mr. Speaker, communication to the public on power rates still appears unclear. The Minister indicated in his statement last week that, "the latest rate application will charge Yellowknife customers only 98 per cent of the cost of the service for 2016-2017." Yet Northlands pointed to the rate application showing that it was charging Northlands 114 per cent. That's 14 per cent more than what it costs to produce power for Yellowknife. This is not open for interpretation and it can't be both ways. I would like to ask the Minister again which rate is correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, the Public Utilities Board sets rates for both NTPC and Northland Utilities. NTPC did apply for 114 per cent in 2013-2014 based on a calculation of revenue-to-cost coverage. The Public Utilities Board rejected this calculation and directed that NTPC bill electricity at 98 per cent which is where it remains to this day. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for that clarification. Another question, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister is, fundamentally, what would have to change for the government to consider opening talks with ATCO?

The government has initiated an energy strategy which the House heard about last week, and we will be inviting proponents to attend and discuss energy in the NWT. ATCO is one of the invitees.

Thank you to the Minister. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to reducing or stabilizing the cost of power to consumers, the GNWT has typically taken an approach that results in higher costs to government. That is only cycling taxpayers' dollars and placing the costs on future governments. How does the GNWT plan to reverse that trend?

The GNWT has been subsidizing the cost of power for NWT residents, most recently through the $44 million to offset low water in the North Slave. I certainly agree with the Member opposite that finding ways to make our energy system more sustainable is crucial, and the government is in the early stages of partnering to tie into the continental grid. We have also been partnering with communities such as Colville Lake to introduce solar arrays and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. I look forward to hearing what other ideas are out there and the results of the energy strategy that I referred to earlier.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.