Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, I understand from our inspector in California that things are moving ahead, so some final inspections are being done on the products and I hope to be able to provide us with some good information in the next few weeks that the generators have arrived. I can’t provide that information yet, but final inspections are being done, so I’m much more optimistic than I have been in the last few weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That honestly is some positive news. I hope that we can get a little bit more detail from the Minister as to when they will actually arrive. In the meantime, I would like to ask the Minister then given that these are nearly three years old overdue in terms of receiving them, we’ve been incurring a lot of costs as it relates to putting in temporary backup generators. Can the Minister tell this House what kind of costs we have incurred in the meantime while having not received these generators to date and almost being three years late. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.

You’re quite correct. There certainly has been a lengthy delivery in the delivery of these generators as I mentioned. The prior question, I am hopeful that we will receive them. I believe that the plan is that should there be additional costs, we will seek compensation from Virdi Power. There may be issues in being able to do because of Virdi’s situation, but there should be a set-off of any money that we owe them for any additional costs that we have incurred. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. I’d just like to remind Members that before speaking, wait for the red light to go on so the mike will be on. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The point I’m trying to raise is that at one point in time I asked a question that was asking for clarification on how much costs we had incurred ourselves for back-up generators and the like in the meantime while waiting for these generators. As of last February and March when I put the question to the Minister, it was around $500,000 at that time. I’d like clarification on what that number is today because that was back in February and March so that’s a number of months ago. Can the Minister give us clarification on how much costs we’ve incurred to date while waiting for these generators to get here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have that figure but will be seeking it and will provide it to the House if requested. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.

The contract, Mr. Speaker, was for several million dollars. I don’t have the exact figure in front of me. However, I would be happy to provide it to Members opposite. Again, there may be some set-off if there are additional costs incurred by us for the late delivery. Again, I will certainly keep the Members opposite posted as to progress in this matter. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI a question about a mandate item that he’s been working on for some time now, an update on the manufacturing strategy. Can the Minister provide one to this House? Thank you.

Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The manufacturing strategy, the department has recently sat down and met with all of the manufacturers in the North Slave and the South Slave and had a discussion on how we’re going to move forward. I believe we are in the process of allocating some money towards some sit-down conversations that we’re going to have with the manufacturing group and the Northwest Territories can come up with a plan forward on the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the update from the Minister. What kind of timeline are we looking at before a draft strategy can be presented to the House? We can get some sense of where this work is ending up. Thank you.

Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won’t be able to give you an exact draft timeline because it depends on the challenges and conversations that we have with the manufacturers and the needs that we are going to need to help address them to be able to deliver a product to the Government of the Northwest Territories and residents of the NWT in a fashion that is economically beneficial to them and also to the residents of the Northwest Territories. It’s pretty hard to have a timeline until we have the discussions with the manufacturers on the challenges going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the biggest challenges for manufacturers is the high cost of operating a manufacturing facility in the Northwest Territories. Will the Minister commit to making this a costed plan that has dollar amounts attached to it so it gets a real sense? The department has done this before with the Economic Opportunity Strategy. Can the Minister make that commitment to put some money behind this one? Not just words and we can actually give a boost to our manufacturing industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.