Daryl Dolynny

I thank the Minister for elaborating on the triggering event and we’ve heard about cascading events, which lead me to believe that we did have faulty equipment that caused an extended outage for no reason. Again, to compare other outages across Canada, minus 30 or minus 40 to minus 3 is not comparable.

Can the Minister indicate whether his office or NTPC has performed a full cost accounting of this recent power outage to evaluate the extent of current and future damage caused either to residents or to business, and if not, why? Thank you.

I leave you with this: When does the act of God cease and when does faulty equipment start?

With that, I will have further questions today for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. In relation to Tabled Document 110-17(3), GNWT Contracts over $5,000 Report for the Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2013, please provide the following information reported in aggregate for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013:

the percentage and dollar amount of those contracts that were negotiated versus total government contracts;

the percentage and dollar amount of those contracts that were sole-sourced versus total government contracts;

the percentage and dollar amount of those contracts that were awarded by request for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return to some of my questions earlier today regarding the power outage that we had on December 29th of 2013. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the purview of looking at Hansard, so I’ll get those tomorrow. I find that earlier today I was rather at the Minister’s mercy and convenience to some of the quasi attempts and answers that we didn’t get, but I wanted to further some questioning regarding the initial incident when the initial power failure occurred.

Was there any failure of equipment, automatic failure of equipment for generators to start us? Was there any...

Thank you. I’m unaware that we get our directions from the Chamber of Commerce when it comes to our business. But that letter was good, indeed enlightening to read here.

Can the Minister indicate if the concept of an income-tested or a contingency fund disaster relief directly associated with such things as an extended power outage at extreme cold temperatures has ever been discussed with this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I raised the issue of unresolved property damages in Yellowknife, Behchoko and Detah in the wake of an extended power outage on December 29, 2013. As indicated conservatively, 231 residents did come forward with approximately $350,000 in damages directly related to this outage. Now, I realize that regulated public utilities in Canada are not permitted to reimburse customers for property damage caused by weather-related incidents or acts of God. However, I believe in Inuvik some years ago a power surge caused significant damage to which NTPC took ownership...

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I’d first like to thank the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Alfred Moses, for seconding this motion allowing this debate to occur.

Mr. Speaker, this motion today is a culmination of some hands-on exposure, the first of which stems from my experience in accompanying local RCMP and municipal enforcement division officers during a number of summer ride-alongs. It was evident early on that the opportunity of expanding the scope of practice for municipal enforcement officers in the area of alcohol-related infraction clearly would have been...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with Motion 6-17(5) which I gave notice of yesterday.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a number of documents here in support of the notice of motion I gave yesterday on strengthening municipal enforcement liquor laws. I also have a number of letters of support of that same motion from Yellowknife city councillors Niels Konge, Rebecca Alty and Linda Bussey.