Michael Miltenberger

The issue of meters is a critical one. Every jurisdiction has to meter. You can’t manage what you can’t count, and you can’t bill what you can’t count. The issue of are they accurate, from everything I’ve seen and heard there is not an issue with faulty meters. I will, in fact, raise the issue and will follow up with the Power Corp and see if there have been concerns raised in that area and what redress was taken.

We did a rate restructuring a number of years ago. We have the thermal zone and the hydro zone. The rates for the thermal zone are pegged to the Yellowknife rate. In the hydro zone the cost of business is done and the rates set through the Public Utilities Board.

I appreciate the Member’s question. We are looking at how we are structured as a system. We are looking at generation issues that we know we need to address that would help bring down the cost of living as it relates to the price of energy. We are looking at all those major areas as we look to the fundamental government priority of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Ernie Bernhardt, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly but, more importantly, my roommate back in residential school many, many, many years ago. I welcome him to the Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a 50/50 split for the contributions. That’s the way it is structured and that’s the way the employers and employees share the cost.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 12, 2015, I will move that Bill 50, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2015-2016, be read for the first time.

The rate of power in Yellowknife is governed by the fact that, one of the reasons is that power is generated by the Power Corporation and it is distributed by Northland Utilities, and that rate is set through the Public Utilities Board. As we look to the future, we look at that issue; we look at the issue of the cost of power, the fact that we’ve had a number of incidents here in Yellowknife with low water, turbine failure on the Snare system that have all driven up the cost of business and generating power in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll get that information and provide it to the Member. Thank you.

The payroll tax is the same. The cost of living tax credit is in place that benefits Northerners and allows for some of the money to be recovered through the tax refund process. Thank you.

There are regular reviews done of the clients down south, both adults and children. The significant challenge is the multiple presenting problems, very, very complex, in many cases, presenting problems that require constant 24/7 supervision. There is such a wide array of special needs and requirements that it would be impossible, in the estimation of the government, to be able to bring back a facility worth 10 or 15 of these folks all with a wide array of problems, to try to put them all in one facility. When they are placed down south, we have the ability to be able to go and place them in...