Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table two documents today. First of all, a copy of the advertisement of the Mackenzie Gas Project “A Secure Energy Source,” placed by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment in the May 2010 issue of Up Here Business magazine.

The second is the transcript of the presentation of the Government of the Northwest Territories to the National Energy Board hearings in Inuvik, April 20th and 21st, 2010, transcript paragraphs 18110 to 18636, presentation by GNWT counsel C.W. Sanderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The social and environmental measures outlined in the report, even with the modifications government propose, will cost this government, our government, us, huge sums. I have seen no estimate of these sums and I will be asking Cabinet to report on the work underway to assess the total cost of the huge new responsibilities and demands this project would create. I should say I will re-ask. I’ve asked before and gotten no response.

Of course, there is the option that Cabinet could simply say that it cannot agree with the recommendations because it would cost too much. But if...

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. I think we have some common ground there. I appreciate the $200K estimate for the Power Corporation review and I assume I’ll still be hearing about the electricity rate review costs.

As the Minister said, and I said in my question, we have not had real cost reductions yet and we all hope that there will be some eventually. What I want to know is, will we see any during the life of this Assembly, the four-year life of this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you. Services to the public, $355,000, not previously authorized. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of our Power Corporation and the first one is very short. What has been the cost of our electricity rate review and NTPC review? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Further, Mr. Ramsay? Thank you. Committee, we’re on page 14, community justice and corrections, $1.073 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

I think I will leave it at that. I think that the concern is clear. We will accept new information.

I appreciate that offer and I’ll take Mr. Kalgutkar up on that. I think the main point is we need to be on top of that, because these dollars will disappear at the end of this fiscal year. It’s not usually, or often at least, that we have the opportunity to carry them over and this is sort of that last kick at getting those spent in a productive way. So we need to be on top of that and I appreciate that offer.

I’m happy to hear we’re doing more than what the newspaper reported and officials of the department reported as a wait-and-see approach. Obviously we already know from B.C. officials that the flow of the river is being shaped through this new project, or will be shaped, to service peak need periods such as winter. So this takes us away from the natural flow, which we now understand has major impacts on river systems and basins which have evolved to require those seasonal peaks and lows to maintain diversity and so on. So I’m wondering, will the Minister commit to a more active intervention...