When this project was first proposed there was an estimate given to the PUB as this project had to be filed through them as well. The targeted impact was in the neighbourhood of up to between 1.5 to 2 cents per kilowatt hour. So that was budgeted prior to any changes in the budget. With this change we’re looking at 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour impact in this region. That does affect the rest of the communities because our Power Support Program, as we’ve changed it, is based on the Yellowknife rate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The confirmed budget with contingency is targeted now at $37.4 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to get a message back to the people of Inuvik Boot Lake, my constituency, to inform them that I will not be putting my name forward in the next general election.

After much thought about the future and the work that I’ve done with the people of Inuvik, I feel it is time to let some younger, more energetic folks take a look at representing the fine community of Inuvik

and the constituency of Inuvik Boot Lake. So I want to inform them that I will not be putting my name in, and wish the best for the future Assemblies of the Northwest Territories.

I’m sure I will at some point, some place, still be poking and prodding the Government of the Northwest Territories to make the right decisions and look towards our future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every day our employees deliver critical programs and services to the residents of the Northwest Territories. The Premier’s Awards recognize this outstanding service and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of those employees who demonstrate excellence and innovation in meeting the objectives of work as a government.

Earlier today I was pleased to present the 2011 Premier’s Awards to 36 such dedicated public servants and 20 external collaborative partners.

Three team awards were presented in the 2011 season recognizing:

•

the creation of the Good Building Practice for Northern Facilities 2009 guidebook;

•

the

in-house

development of a system that

collects and disseminates weather products critical in calculating wild land fire danger; and

•

the use of Aboriginal standards of practice and traditional values for prevention and early intervention on social issues.

The Premier’s Collaboration Awards recognize the work of teams made of GNWT and non-GNWT employees who work together to enhance government programs or services. Collaboration Awards for 2011 were presented for:

•

the use of environmentally sustainable

technology that blends traditional and western science knowledge;

•

work on our government’s multi-year

intervention at the National Energy Board hearings on the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project; and

•

development of the Northern Voices, Northern Waters - NWT Water Stewardship Strategy.

An individual Premier’s Award for Excellence was presented to Mr. Benoit Boutin for his work on the implementation of communications and services in the French language.

This year a new individual award was introduced in honour of the late Dave Ramsden, a long-time GNWT employee, former deputy minister and secretary to Cabinet. This award recognizes an individual with a demonstrated history of commitment to excellence and public service over the course of their career.

The 2011 Dave Ramsden Career Excellence Award was presented to Mr. Sukhdev Cheema. During Mr. Cheema’s nearly 30-year career with the government, he has guided building design

decisions on major infrastructure projects throughout the North, promoted and demonstrated sound energy management practices, and played an instrumental role in bringing northern building science and technology issues to the international level.

Each Premier’s Award recipient today received a plaque featuring porcupine quillwork on birch bark from artisans from the Fort Liard area. The Dave Ramsden Award features original artwork by Jennifer Walden.

Encouraging innovation among our public servants is one of the priorities this Assembly identified to help pursue its goal of effective and efficient government. The leadership, cross-agency collaboration and innovative ideas demonstrated by the recipients of this year’s Premier’s Awards and their working partners is a model for us all and has resulted in enhanced productivity and improved services.

I invite the Assembly to join me in congratulating award recipients and extending our appreciation to all members of the public service for their professionalism, resourcefulness and hard work.

I must say that it’s rare that a Minister has a chance and an opportunity to stump a Member...(inaudible)...questions. Maybe it’s just the seniors' questions about funding that we all face on a day-to-day basis.

The issue of funding and the forced growth nature is, as I was saying, some of the earlier work we did in the 16th Assembly as Members raised the issue

around funding stabilization and previous Assemblies, was the third-party accountability framework that we worked on to identify areas of accountability and dealing with some of those forced-growth pressures. In some categories there

was agreement for changes and others did not fit based on that work. We use that work to establish how departments would work with NGOs and how funding could be looked at. Again, not all parties were able to qualify in that area. Thank you.

We started our work early in the life of this Assembly with issues around stabilizing funds to NGOs and we categorized a number of groups that would fit into core programs that we deliver, that made sense as to looking at some growth in expenditures in those areas, and some adjustments were made. As we review the work that’s done in our contracts, some of the things we have to look at is the use of those programs and increase in forced growth as we would categorize it is how that might fit into our business planning cycle. It is, in a sense, by department and by area of responsibility and demand for programs. Thank you.

In the recommendations that have been laid out, that would have to occur within the life of the next government as our processes and budget have been passed. Changes in that pattern and the way of doing business would need to be carried on through the transition work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a number of layers of agreements that are put in place and there are a number of multi-year agreements in place. It is department by department. The issue becomes, one, if a program is under review, then there’s a hesitancy to get into multi-year agreements. Thank you.

The process we have used has been open. It has been inviting to ask the groups to be a part of this. The two groups that are involved in this have signed the agreement-in-principle, and by signing that agreement-in-principle have taken their spot at the table. The table and chairs are waiting for the other groups to sign up to come in and affect those discussions.

Again, the door is open, the invite is there, and resources would be made available. In fact, this Assembly discussed the resources we require within Executive to help them in preparations for negotiations. So we’ve made offers, both formal in the sense of being at the table and resources that would help them in preparations for negotiations.