Merci, Monsieur le President. I seem to be on a real roll, here, so thanks again to the Minister for the work that he does on this issue. I know that he also participates in federal-provincial-territorial conferences and working groups. I mentioned earlier in my statement about the tendency of our federal government to promote so-called free trade agreements that extend protection for drug manufacturers, sometimes with little corresponding benefits. Can the Minister tell the House what positions our government has put forward in the so-called free trade agreement negotiations with regard to prescription drugs? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Recognizing that we are a small jurisdiction on the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance and that larger jurisdictions like Ontario, Alberta, BC, and even Quebec have a much larger impact on the drug purchasing in this country, we have endorsed the work that is being done by the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance in trying to control the price of drugs, including negotiations with pharmaceutical companies and others, both at a national and international level, and we continue to endorse the work they do and stand behind the work that they do and support the decisions that they have to make to bring down the costs for all Canadians. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I was talking about the LNG proposal, and yesterday, as well, so I do have some questions for the Minister for Infrastructure. Again, it's kind of all over the place, so: can the Minister please provide the House with an update on how much the GNWT subsidizes our power rates? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2016-2017 the GNWT provided $380,000 to Northland Utilities to reduce the rates in four diesel communities down to match the rates in NTPC communities. In 2016-2017 the Government of the Northwest Territories provided $6.4 million throughout the Territorial Power Subsidy Program to reduce residential rates in both NTPC and Northland thermal communities down to the Yellowknife rate. Through the Housing Corporation, the GNWT provides approximately $7 million a year to keep rates low for tenants. For income assistance clients, we provided approximately $800,000 in 2016 for electricity. Now, the GNWT also pays $5 million a year in higher rates because the existing residential and commercial customer base cannot cover the costs of the system in place today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for all that information. It's great to see that we are doing stuff like that, but how does this compare to our past five years? Can the Minister please advise the House of that?

The yearly subsidy has remained approximately the same over the last five years. It has fluctuated a bit year to year, but it is very close.

I appreciate the Minister's answer. My next question: in the past 10 years, how much has the GNWT had to subsidize to address low water rates affecting hydroelectric production on top of the subsidies for power rates due to unforeseen diesel fuel increases?

Low water rates, we did a subsidy from 2014-2016 for the hydroelectricity region for the North Slave and the government provided a one-time subsidy of $49 million for a two-year period.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, again, I thank the Minister for that information. My last question: when the government looks at an alternative energy source, does the government have a backup fund in place in case something goes wrong with the future energy costs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The main purpose for installing renewables and alternative energy is to stabilize the cost of power, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that we are all working towards, and protect residents from future fluctuations of commodity prices of diesel fuel. Even with that, it has to be noted that we need to have diesel backup in these communities, and the government is committed to converting these plants as much as possible with the backup system in place. We are also committed to covering the mental costs of doing this in the communities so that the emerging and renewable power projects moving forward do not go onto the backs of ratepayers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance on maximizing public revenue. I have mentioned the expert report that highlights weaknesses of our royalty collection regime. Are the Minister and his staff familiar with these reports, and what action have they taken to evaluate and consider the content of them with respect to tax policy formulation? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are familiar with the reports and we are just going through them and looking at their contents and doing analysis. Thank you.

I am pleased to hear the Minister is familiar with the reports. What action does he plan to take on their contents?

That depends on the content. I mean, the way we do business in the Northwest Territories, of course, we listen to and we follow all comments out there, but at the end of the day we will evaluate their contents and see if it's one that would apply or work for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories whom we 19 Members were all elected to represent.

I want to emphasize again, this report was not written by my Mom. These people are world-wide experts in revenue generation through resource royalties. So I am very interested to know how the Minister is going to evaluate the contents of these reports and bring the results to bear for discussion in the House?

We have experts of our own within the government system who are well versed in these types of correspondence so we will review it. I commit to the Member we will review the contents of the reports that were done and see how it fits into how we do business in the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that commitment. As I said in my statement, I am not asking the Minister to raise taxes. What I am asking for is for him to work with the Standing Committee on Government Operations to set the terms of referenced for an evaluation of NWT tax policy and to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on that so that we can generate some discussion about revenue prior to the end of the Assembly. Can the Minister make that commitment? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely. I mean, I would be more than happy to sit down with the committee. We've had some discussions with committee on own-source revenue in the Northwest Territories. We've had some feedback on committee on own-source revenue in the Northwest Territories, and I would be more than happy to sit down with committee, as I always am, to get their feedback as to how we can move forward. Because at the end of the day all the decisions that are made should be decisions that are made by this Assembly, and we should have some common ground and see what we can do to mitigate any impact it might have on people in the Northwest Territories. So I have made that commitment in kind of a long way, but I just had to add something in there. I did not want to just say yes.

---Laughter