Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has shown himself to be a very vocal and aggressive defender and supporter of powerful money, multinational interests headquartering outside of the Northwest Territories and clearly today he’s going to vent his spleen on the Power Corporation, which is, I think, a very good corporation that we’d all be lost without.

On the issue of dividends, let’s make the distinction between the Power Corporation and a private company. The people of the Northwest Territories own the Power Corporation. There’s one shareholder. Rather than take a dividend, we reinvest all the...

Mr. Speaker, on April 22, 2015, the federal government announced a $500 million increase to the GNWT borrowing limit, bringing the federally imposed borrowing limit to $1.3 billion; as well, the definition of self-financing debt is being revised. Post devolution this increase in our borrowing limit gives the Government of the Northwest Territories increased flexibility to invest, in consultation with Members of the Legislative Assembly, in much needed infrastructure that will support the responsible development of the NWT and its economy and bring down the cost of living for communities and...

I will limit my comments to making the observation that it’s a public process and I understand that the Town of Hay River has sent copies of the RFP to both ourselves, the Power Corporation, and to ATCO. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The interest of the NWT Power Corporation is very clear that on Monday the Town of Hay River passed a motion to initiate a public process for the renewal of their franchise, and we have indicated that we would take part in that public process. There is no broader issue other than that. I am aware of some of the concerns and angst and heartburn in different areas, in corporations, in board rooms and some of the Members of this House, but they are unfounded and ill-founded.

I was briefly at the gathering the Member talks about, and there was a lot of interesting discussion. I will indicate two things, first that there is an enormous amount of activity already underway by ITI, by MACA, by ENR, in all the areas that we have a concern with in terms of local economies but also with the broader economic issues that we are all tasked with making sure that we manage the $ 1.9 billion budget, make sure our revenues match our expenditures. So, once again, there’s a process in place, as the Member is well aware in his eighth year as a Member of this Assembly, that will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The increase to our borrowing limit, the second one of this government, is part of the legacy that the 17th Legislative Assembly is going to leave for the 18th Legislative Assembly, the ability to have flexibility and choice. We went forward with the request and justification for the increase of the borrowing limit on the basis that we needed to be able to make critical investments in economic infrastructure that will help create the conditions for development that will help spur the economy and increase our tax base and give us more money into our coffers in terms of...

Yes, that factor has been calculated in and we are going to be taking on the community of 3,000 as a rate base, added to our rate base that we never had before, so it’s anticipated that the cost of power, which now pays for that infrastructure, will continue to pay for that infrastructure

There are two numbers that are clearly known. One is the current cost of power per kilowatt in Hay River, which is 31 cents and in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution it’s 21 cents. At this point, what I can say in the House is that it is anticipated that we would be able to significantly close that gap that now exists between the cost of power in Hay River and those in the neighbouring communities. Thank you.

In point of fact, my understanding is that the authority for bidding on franchises is enabled in the legislation for the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. It comes under the purview of Municipal and Community Affairs, and the community of Hay River – and every community has the right in the Northwest Territories – chose to trigger that process on their own behalf after doing their own due diligence on what they thought would best meet their needs and help them deal with the high cost of living and the inequities between the power rates in the neighbourhood that they reside in in the South Slave...

This is a public process in Hay River and there is no guarantee that NTPC will be successful. We have to find out who else is going to submit bids. At the end of the day, it is a competitive process because Hay River is looking for the best bid possible because there is a 30 percent differential between the price of power in Hay River and the neighboring communities of Fort Smith and Fort Resolution.

In regards to reports, there have been a number of reports done, in 2009 and, previous to that, the Robertson Report. As well, we’ve had many discussions, we have had our own Energy Strategy, we’ve...