Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, the process we are involved with now is some of the work being done, in a sense, by other initiatives; for example, Refocusing Government, looking at the delivery of services from a board and agency perspective, how we align with the departments and are working in those regions, what level of authorities are made at the headquarters versus regional operations and should that change or remain the same or be enhanced or tightened up? In a sense, with that are the accountabilities with that responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, the review is quite open to a whole number of options. We can decide here, as an Assembly, what should be undertaken. The business operation in the existing framework is quite clear — the structure that we have to operate in. Again, as I said earlier, it is up to this Assembly if we want to change that; for example, the act that the Power Corporation acts under and how the PUB regulates the industry in the Northwest Territories. There are a number of things, right from programs we as the GNWT deliver. The Power Corporation itself is open to what the Members would like to consider...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Power Corporation files for any rate applications or changes to its rates, it goes under review by the Public Utilities Board. It looks at the whole gamut of the operation in the Power Corporation. Those are areas that would be reviewed.

Amortization deals with the capital expenses of the public corporation and replacing assets that are on the ground that would need to be replaced, such as power poles, generation facilities and so on. We try to do the best we can in dealing with those areas. In fact, I believe we provide information to Members on the breakdown...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is one of the initiatives I laid out early on in the life of our government as one of those strategic areas. It’s looking at how we operate and the delivery of services in our communities and how they’re delivered from a regional aspect to a community aspect. Looking, for example, at the future of the development of the Northwest Territories when it comes to governance, with the self-government tables happening in those regional bodies, does our delivery fit within that? We haven’t been able to get to that yet. As we work on that initiative, we would be prepared to...

With the existing framework we have to operate under — that is, the acts that are in place, the Public Utilities Board regulation process — if we were to delay this process, then the potential is that next year we would have to go for even a higher request for operation.

The fact that individuals have been saving on their energy use, yes, is one that helps, in a sense. But, Mr. Speaker, I’ll speak from experience. I have a large family; I have a home in Inuvik and pay a higher rate than Yellowknife. For approximately 11 months of the year I keep — I should say, my wife keeps — the power...

I will request from the Power Corporation that we pull this information together and provide it to Members for their review.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process we have established for the 16th Assembly is the regional leaders meeting held with regional leaders and me and the appropriate Cabinet Ministers, depending on the items that would come on the agenda. That process allows for the regional leadership to put items on the agenda as well as the government. We have a number of working groups already established through our first number of meetings. The one area of devolution, resource revenue sharing…. We continue to have that on the table and will be discussing a number of issues around that.

On top of that, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, a number of the initiatives we were looking at within the government of the 16th Assembly is how we do business as a government, the level of services provided, if we can make it more efficient, more effective. Those are our goals.

So, yes, we are prepared to look at options out there. In fact, the Minister responsible for the refocusing government initiative is looking at boards and agencies and how they deliver services on our behalf as the government of the Northwest Territories. That is one of those initiatives out there that could have a direct role in how we deliver services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the records show that previous governments and this government will continue, with the areas that it can, trying to deal with the capacity issues in communities in the Northwest Territories and deal with those challenges.

In fact, we began working with Members of the Assembly looking at one of the initiatives that we have yet to kick off, which is the regionalization of government operations, looking at how we deliver services and programs across the north. As well, there was a commitment made to work with Regular Members on the small communities group, and we...

Mr. Speaker, the practice in this Assembly as well as other Assemblies…. This isn’t made by another government and remain with that government. I’m unable to go into material and request that information. But I can ask our staff to prepare some summary notes and sit down with the committee on that.