Floyd Roland

As this scenario developed and as we went to Members highlighting the concerns that we had, by not taking any action there would be immediate impact on the Government of the Northwest Territories when it comes to our debt wall. By taking the steps we have and getting confirmation from the federal Minister of Finance, Minister Flaherty, to work with us in dealing with this debt around this project short-term relief we’ve been able to work through this scenario where there will not be an immediate impact.

As I was responding earlier to Member Bromley, there would be an impact in a sense of our...

I’ll speak to the first part of that, and Ms. Melhorn can go towards the fiscal strategy that they laid out and presented to Members.

The timelines, as we’ve looked at it, we’re okay in the ’10-11 fiscal year. The ’11-12 year becomes problematic without the relief; ’12-13 becomes an issue, as well. But a five-year relief allows us the flexibility to then get back into a normal pattern, the cash demand is down, there is no impact. But let’s fully recognize that even we, as the 16th Assembly, when we came into office, without accepting any further debt, we we’re talking about tightening our belts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, through the environmental review process additional information was requested. That information was gathered and supplied to the review board around alternate sites. We go from $70 million to as high as $200 million, depending on the different scenarios that we’ve looked at: across-the-lake, underwater cable and so on. Substantially more expensive than what’s in place today. Without a business case, without a customer at a kilowatt hour, there is no project unless this government itself decides to pay the additional cost for going...

Mr. Chairman, our request has been for a five-year relief on this. We’re, again as I said, the finance staff from Ottawa and our staff are in discussions. We’re trying to get as much information as possible for what Minister Flaherty is prepared to bring forward to his Cabinet colleagues. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have to realize and recall, even the previous decisions made by the mines because of the economic downturn was they shut down for a number of months because of the cost of running their operations, and that takes into fact the cost of running their facilities in a remote location. Our plan would provide for power at a cheaper rate, thereby expanding mine lives, for example, or allowing a new mine to be developed, because one of the things that the shareholders of a mining operation have to take into consideration is the overall cost of doing business in the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just very briefly, Mr. Chairman, when this issue first came up I approached the Finance Minister. I had to call, had a commitment to work on a relief project specific and at that point then followed up with committee and informed Members, as I have done here, that we developed a proposal that looked at five years. That’s what’s in front of them. We don’t know what they’re going to respond with, but I just felt that I needed to put that down as well, just for comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again I’d have to refer to the Minister of Finance as to that level of detail and if it’s been shared. I’m not familiar with it. I’ll go to Ms. Melhorn as to some additional information. I guess I’d have to refer to again the Minister of Finance and his staff to see if that is a meeting that can be arranged to provide that if it hasn’t been on that basis. The simple fact is the Member is saying he does not trust what he’s being presented.

As Members are aware and as we have briefed Members, the need for this session is based on the lenders requesting the GNWT assume the debt. If we do not assume the debt, then there will be a make-whole clause that would kick in. There would be a penalty on top of the repayment of the debt. We would have a project that is out of the water but yet to be complete. So it will cost additional monies on the Government of the Northwest Territories and without assuming this process and having the federal government work with us as they have committed to on debt relief, in future years we would have to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Every Government of the Northwest Territories when taking office is faced with severe implications. I’ve been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for four terms and I think right at the start of my term we talked of debt walls. We’ve always avoided them by taking the right fiscal strategy and managed to keep the government in a place that keeps ourselves moving along.

The Member has talked about unrealistic expectations. The expectations that are presented are presented on a fiscal strategy that Mr. Miltenberger presented in his budget that the Members of the Assembly...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is that the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transportation in meetings with committee members provided that information and we’ll be able to provide it again to the Members regarding the breakdown of that loan.

Now, we need to be clear on the language we use because initially the reason this project was put through the DCBC was to keep it off our accounting or off our books and we couldn’t guarantee the debt in that sense, but we indemnified or we, through the guaranteed payments on the 35-year concession agreement, we in fact backstopped as a...