Louis Sebert

Normally, Mr. Speaker, we wouldn't do that, but generally in each community, you can go to the tax rules and find out what the assessments are. In that way, you could determine what the values placed on land and buildings are. I believe every municipality has that information available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At least the tax-based municipalities. Thank you.

Of course, our fees are based on the value of the lands, so the assessed or appraised value of the lands is the number we're interested in, and on that number, we base the lease fees.

I wish I could give the assistance or the assurance requested by the Member opposite. As I say, we are expecting to be over the expected budget on this project, which frankly is not unusual in contractual situation, but ultimately I suppose it would be up to the Public Utilities Board to determine whether these additional costs would be passed on to ratepayers. Thank you.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a set-off, so money for the costs that were incurred by the late delivery of the first three generators was recovered. There are going to be ongoing costs. That is acknowledged. Our expectation, however, is that the overall original or the expected budget of $8 million will be exceeded by about $500,000. We are looking into whether we can recover additional funds from Virdi Power, but as I mentioned earlier, that is a complex issue. If there is litigation, we would have to look at the cost and time that that might take, and in fact which jurisdiction it would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Fort Smith Town Councillor Rashmi Patel from the Thebacha riding. Thank you.

Certainly, I would be prepared to meet with committee to discuss this. I know that the numbers involved are complex, partially because some of the contract was initially in United States dollars, so it was necessary to get some information as to what that approximated in Canadian dollars. Certainly, I would be willing to meet with committee. As I say, we are looking at the possibilities of taking legal action, but we have to look also at the time and complexity of such legal action and also which jurisdiction such legal action would be commenced in. Certainly, I would like to meet with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to give some background as to this matter. The original contract, or the contract that was entered into between Virdi Power and the Power Corporation, was in 2015. That original signed contract for was $3.4 million, and that's United States dollars. It was later increased to $3.6 million when a tie breaker module was added under a change order. Now, of course, we did not receive the generators on time. In fact, they were almost two years late. I did mention earlier in this House that had been a pre-payment, an initial progress payment to the corporation. That...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to update this House on our government's progress in advancing our mandate commitments for increasing government transparency and accountability.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce today our government's release of an Open Government Policy. The Open Government Policy was developed based on input we received from Northwest Territories residents through a public engagement campaign, as well as collaboration with GNWT departments and research on open government initiatives in other jurisdictions. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Government Operations...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department, of course, did review the recommendation, and the act has been amended several times in the last few years. There were significant amendments made in 2015. In the last 10 years, there have been amendments in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2017, so there have been significant amendments, often in response to suggested amendments from the office. Some of the amendments that we have made this year is to permit the filing of rental officer orders in the Supreme Court registry and the authority to rental officers to correct minor errors in their...

The Power Corporation participated actively in the drafting of the energy strategy, so I expect that our corporation, the Power Corporation, will be developing alternative renewable energy solutions for the communities of the Northwest Territories. If I could just outline some of the things that we are hoping to do, one of the things that clearly is a priority or a concern of the corporation and all of the communities is to reduce costs, so we are looking at LNG in Fort Simpson and Tuktoyaktuk; reducing emissions; wind, we are looking at possible wind projects in Inuvik, Norman Wells, and...