Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for clarification, he’s talking about the specific debt to the Deh Cho Bridge Project or the debt of the Government of the Northwest Territories, including the Housing Corporation?

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process that the Taltson expansion has been built on is built on a customer that has approvals, that is on the ground, that is benefiting the North through GDP development as we speak. The other projects that are there, yes, have promise for the future and we’ll need to try to incorporate that as we look forward, but they’re still years away from actually establishing if there’s a secondary industry, which, as we talked with Minister McLeod and questions were answered in this House, that that is one of the avenues we will have to engage in.

Right now the...

The Member uses an example of Wrigley, for example, of having no nurse located in that community, but there are medical services provided to residents within that community, not the same as Yellowknife residents, not the same as residents from Inuvik, but on a level that we can provide those services with an aim to improve them. For example, that’s why the Foundation for Change comes into mind. It is through the business planning cycle -- and that’s a four-year cycle that we’ve initiated in this government -- to look at the way we deliver programs and services across the North and how we would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of factors that come into view as we talk about distribution of services throughout the Northwest Territories and evaluation of those programs and services. For example, there’s the capital standards process the Member alluded to in his Member’s statement of what type of construction that is permissible. In the past, the government also had, under that capital planning process, the size of the community. For example, what type of a water treatment plant fell into a community of 100 versus 500 versus 10,000. Those were in place as well...