Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The options for us, there are a number of things that could be developed and the Member has put the idea of the Opportunities Fund as part of a solution that could be looked at paying out a debt early. The situation that we would have to look for is, for example, the Opportunities Fund has a time amount once borrowed that it has to be paid back. The concession agreement and the agreement with the lenders that stands is already built into our fiscal strategy for the 35 years. There will come a time as interest rates go up and real bonds and the real bond market, we could...

Mr. Chairman, as the Members are aware, we’ve, in the last couple of years, had some of the largest capital spending in the history of the Government of the Northwest Territories, and to have that happen requires a large cash flow. It’s when those projects are being done and put into service and finishing the construction that we run into the problem of our debt wall if we did not have relief from the federal government. So with this relief, our cash requirements drop down because we go back to the typical capital plan of the Government of the Northwest Territories which is $75 million. Then...

Mr. Speaker, the alternate routes have been looked at by the Hydro Corporation and the Power Corp because through the environmental review they were asked for additional information. That was provided. This project will not work. We will not be able to sell energy to the mines for an acceptable rate. They will not sign power purchase agreements for a cost higher than they’re able to develop it for in today’s environment. Adding approximately $100 million-plus to the project by going around the west side of the lake would put that project in a place where it is uneconomical and we have no...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the debt will be handled on our books as we’ve laid out here by accepting that, and the issue of having a letter or the Order-in-Council, as it would be referred to, from Minister Flaherty, my understanding from the staff having discussions between Finance Canada and our own finance staff here that his department is working on the temporary adjustment that will allow us to go beyond that current limit that is set, again, relief from this project. I’ve had that verbally from the Minister of Finance. I put a lot of weight in that and the fact that his staff...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Hydro Strategy does set out the development of a grid over the long-term life of the Northwest Territories. This piece of our plan is based on the business case, a business model that sees revenue accruing to the partnership and to the Hydro Corporation. From there, the benefits then would flow in other areas, Mr. Speaker, that would see, for example, the GDP of the Government of the Northwest Territories remain or grow because we’re able to supply electrical power to industry at a lower rate than is being done, so now because they have to build...

Mr. Chairman, again, I go to the fact that the Minister of Finance tabled his budget, brought his business plans to community members. The fiscal strategy is not different than when he presented that to Members. It’s not my plan. It’s not the Cabinet’s plan. It’s been through our committee system, it’s been to the floor, it’s been accepted by Members. So, as previously, it seems easy to separate one’s self from some of the tough choices that need to be made when we accept the fiscal strategy, but that’s been presented. That’s not a new scenario because of this process. And, again, I go by the...

Earlier, as I responded, I talked about like a mortgage, 25 years-plus. In this case it’s 35 years, but it is a typical commercial loan. I’ll have Ms. Melhorn speak to more of the details.

Mr. Speaker, before I get into the financial arrangements made by the lenders and the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, with input from quite a number of sources, let’s be clear. There was a project put in place by a previous government that had a concession agreement that flowed into this government. The Deh Cho Bridge Act was put in place even prior to that. Members may throw about the words “messed up” and so on. The simple fact is that we have had to step in because of contractor issues, because of capacity issues of this project.

Now, if all of the pieces fell together as they were initially...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, our initial proposal to federal Finance staff has been a five-year window. We are unable to confirm at this time if that is what they presented to their Minister to bring forward. I could have additional conversations with them, but I know at this point trying to get it through again, his comment was short-term relief, project-specific and we are waiting to see what that actually means in the final documentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess, to deal with some of the spin that Mr. Ramsay continues to put out there and innuendo about things lacking and potential trouble here and trouble there, we’ve dealt with this from the day I first took the chair as Premier of the 16th Legislative Assembly, we’ve provided the information. Unfortunately we find ourselves here where we’re actually putting a document forward that would assume the debt and management of the project and make it a Government of the Northwest Territories, a fully owned and operated project of the Government of the Northwest Territories...