Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On this last day for Members’ statements for a while I would like to give voice to comments I have received in response to the revenue options paper put out by the Finance Department. The comments were many, and they were thoughtful and included questions such as: “Where is the analysis of the impact of cutting jobs on the GNWT finances? Why are suggestions from knowledgeable people being ignored, and why is critical research absent? Why are cost reduction mechanisms nonexistent?”

But to the suggestions, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, I received a consistent message...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the Honourable Member for Thebacha, that notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on October 24, 2008, it shall be adjourned until Wednesday, February 4, 2009.

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to February 4, 2009, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact...

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t get the answer I was looking for.

The second question that was asked by a constituent is: why are suggestions from knowledgeable people being ignored and critical research absent? I think constituents are concerned that albeit we have a Program Review Office, there is very little analysis prior to job cuts being proposed. There is very little research — in this case “critical research” is the statement — in terms of proposed job cuts. I would ask the Minister again: what sort of analysis, what sort of research are we doing for the job cuts which are liable to be coming up...

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned in my Member’s statement a number of questions that had come from constituents, various residents that had communicated to me their concerns in terms of revenue, budgeting expenses and so on. I would like to ask the questions that I mentioned in my Members’ Statement to the Finance Minister today. The first one is: where is the analysis of the impact of cutting jobs on GNWT finances?

Maybe it’s me this afternoon, but I’m having a really hard time understanding what the Premier is meaning. Perhaps I could ask him to give me a hypothetical example of a change that would be considered regionalization of our services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Premier. I mentioned in my Member’s statement the other day that the Premier has a couple of times talked about regionalization of government. Yesterday — and I’m working from unedited Hansard from yesterday — he said that we have “initiatives that we have yet to kick off, which is the regionalization of government operations.” I would like to ask the Premier what is meant by that statement.

We’ve heard about this review for some time now. I had understood, though, when it was originally put forward, that it was going to be well underway at this point. It sounds now as though it’s going to be some time before we get anywhere. From the Premier’s last answer, it sounds as though the terms of reference are not out there. Can I ask when we might expect the results of this particular review?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Chair of the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee, Mr. McLeod. I stated in my Member’s statement that there needs to be a fundamental change to the NWT Power Corporation. We’re at the beginning of a review, as we’ve heard several times, that’s going to look at electricity rates, regulation and subsidies. But in terms of the Power Corporation itself, I’d like to ask the Minister: what kind of analysis is being undertaken for the NWT Power Corporation as part of this review?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a fundamental problem with the mandate of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the regulatory regime that it operates under.

Most of us do our best to reduce our power consumption for the benefit of both the environment — reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — and the consumer — less energy used means lower electricity costs — and we should be trying to conserve for both of these reasons. The more we reduce our energy consumption, the less power we use. The less power we use, the more NTPC revenues drop. The more their revenues drop, the more riders...

Thank you, and thanks for that answer. I guess I would just like to ask something that’s occurred to me a couple of times as we’ve had various discussions about any number of things. There was quite some time ago a suggestion that perhaps education programs might be changed. For instance, high schools might be brought to a regional centre instead of leaving them in each individual community. Could the Premier comment on that, please?