Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I'd like to take the opportunity to recognize the interpreters we have in the House from my riding. We have Tom Unka. Tom Unka is from Fort Resolution, and he interprets for us in Denesuline. Mary Rose Sundberg who is from Detah, and she interprets for us in Tlicho. Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to welcome Mr. Les Carpenter, who is the CEO of the Native Communication Society and, also, he was board member of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and Inuit Circumpolar Council. Les has done a lot of advocacy work for Inuit, not just in Canada but internationally, as well, around the Inuit circumpolar world, so welcome, Les, and thank you for contributing.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like yourself, I want to take this opportunity to recognize our esteemed guest and Yellowknife North resident, Mr. Anthony Whitford. I also want to recognize the special guests in the gallery, and, in particular, I want to say hello to Woody Whitford, as we called him, knew him, in high school, and his family. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two of our pages here today from the Inuvik Boot Lake riding, Ms. Katelynn Crocker as well as Ms. Nicole Verbonac. I appreciate all the hard work that you did over this past week, and I hope you enjoyed your experience paging for Members of the 18thLegislative Assembly. As always, it's a pleasure to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford. Every time you come to the House, it's great to see you and your family. Everyone else in the gallery, welcome. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Again, if we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Assembly, the Chamber. I hope you are enjoying our proceedings. It's always nice to have an audience in the gallery. Masi. Item 6, acknowledgements. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker I'd like to acknowledge my constituent, Jeannette Savoie. On Tuesday the Canadian Bar Association recognized her as a recipient of the Legal Aid Leader Award. This national award recognizes legal aid lawyers who have made a significant contribution to providing access to justice for people in need. A legal aid lawyer in Yellowknife, Ms. Savoie engages in improving legal aid services and works with mobile legal aid clinics, providing justice services to isolated communities. Colleagues, please join me in acknowledging Ms. Savoie for her achievement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, I spoke about housing in Sachs Harbour in Nunakput. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Housing. My first question is: what's the status of the installation of the duplex in Sachs Harbour? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, the contractor was unable to complete the gravel pad last year. I'm happy to advise the Members, though, that all of the materials to complete the installation of the duplex are in the community at this point. We're anticipating that the duplex will be fully operational prior to August and allocated shortly after. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my next questions are: what are the Housing Corporation's infrastructure priorities for the Nunakput region in the coming year?

The Housing Corporation has identified needs within the communities from our previous needs assessment, and so we've identified that we need to replace older public housing; we need new affordable housing; we need major renovation projects on public housing. However, we have committed to working with the IRC, and, as such, we will do so before we define exactly what our priorities will be for that region.

I appreciation the response from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, my final question to the Minister of Housing is: how will the GNWT work with Inuvialuit Regional Corporation to make the most of the new federal funding over the next two years?

As stated in the previous question, the Housing Corporation is using its definition of needs based on the needs assessment that was done. We've also met with members of the IRC individually, representatives, to see what they define as the needs. The final process that we'll be doing is actually calling a meeting with the IRC, which will be happening within the next couple of weeks, to show the results of what we've compiled and actually to hear what they have to say. They will take the lead on defining where we go with that. I have committed, as the Minister, that I will actually attend that meeting in person to make sure that I fulfil my commitment.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation said, first and most importantly, this change to the board of Directors of the Power Corporation will save ratepayers $1 million per year. My question for the Minister today is: that million dollars, how are ratepayers going to see that coming off their bills? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. As this House will know, an application has gone in for an increase in power rates of 4.8, four, and four per cent over the next three years. The savings of a million dollars allowed us to keep the application that low. Had that million dollars not been saved, the application would have required a higher rate of return to cover the costs of the Board. I haven't calculated the exact amount, but it would have been considerably higher than the rates requested. Thank you.

Previously the Minister had said that the Northwest Territories Power Corporation has been the recipient of substantial GNWT subsidies in recent years. Why is it then that the NTPC, Power Corporation, continues to increase power rates each year, more than 40 per cent since 2012? Is this subsidy a prudent expenditure of government resources in keeping the cost of power under control? It doesn't seem to be working, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, there have been increased in power rates over the last five or six years, and we are anticipating increases over the next three years. However, this increase in rates is driven by several factors. The cost of fuel is certainly one of the factors. Also, too, the amount of power that the corporation actually sells is not increasing, and so costs tend to be stable or increasing while the amount of power actually sold is decreasing. Therefore, unless we are able to find a major export market, it would seem to me that power rates may continue to increase.