Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On January 8, 2013, the headline in the Yellowknifer said, “Deepak International to reopen dormant diamond factory plants – Minister David Ramsay heralds rebirth to the industry.”

So, first off I want to acknowledge the Minister’s expertise and gestation. However, noting that the incubation period of the diamond cutting company has taken over two years to show results, can the Minister tell the House what benefits did the government receive by striking a deal over two years ago and how long are we locked into this deal? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about our population in the Northwest Territories. As we all know, as the population continues to decline it puts downward pressure on all of our industries and downward pressure means higher cost of living.

When I look around the Northwest Territories, I see almost every one of our communities losing people. It’s better described in such a painful way as our communities are bleeding their population, which is the lifeblood of those communities. People enrich the lives of everyone in all these communities, both large and small. Not just economically...

I think that pretty much covers the area I have of concern under general comments. Thank you.

Thank you. So I guess Hansard will ensure they spell it F-O-R.

We’re all well aware that the Cabinet has the authority, as does the Executive Council, to exempt the NWT Power Corp from delivering a dividend payment to the government. By the way, when I say dividend I mean profit.

Is the Minister able to speak to how long this happens to be the case and when was the last time the government directed the NWT Power Corp to deliver a dividend? As this government waived the dividend, what is the intent of why they’ve waived it?

In a perfect world the Housing Corporation decides to get away from this particular unit that has eight units, we sell it for whatever dollar amount, I have yet to find the value or balance. We sell it, which means the money goes into the GNWT coffers. Somebody now becomes the owner and someone decides they want to be in the rental business in the Northwest Territories in this community. I don’t want to ask a hypothetical question because we’d be ruled out of order, but I see it as a huge opening that someone would be coming to us asking for money and assistance in order to create a business...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions for the Minister of the NWT Power Corporation.

My question for the Minister is: Can the Minister of the NWT Power Corp inform this House which of our 33 communities the NWT Power Corp does not service as the distribution agent and explain why that is not the case? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Has the Minister come to the Legislature to ask for additional money to repair those eight units to ensure we would increase the housing stock in that community with more than 10 percent by adding those…for those 12 individuals or families waiting to get housing?

I believe in Yellowknife they were talking about expending dollars so they could expand programs through housing to stabilize rents, to stabilize affordability. Has there been a cost-benefit analysis to make the determination that it’s cheaper to sell the unit in case someone else wants to rent them or own the unit, which we own already, and fix it up and work through our housing program for housing for people in need? Thank you.

So if we have 12 on the list, it would be safe to say that if we open up that particular unit once again, we would take off two-thirds of the waiting list. Is that correct?