Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the creation of a new Northwest Territories Power Corporation board announced, the board now no longer has a board made up of just deputy ministers but qualified members of the public. Could the Minister responsible please talk about when or what impact this Minister now sees on this having on the power corporation, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of the power corp.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the chance to speak to this again. There was an announcement that went out not too long ago. We have transitioned now from what was before a board that was made up entirely of senior officials from the government who were doing this in addition to all the other work they had to do. We've transitioned now to having seven public members, two GNWT senior deputies still involved. We are, of course, still the sole shareholders of the corporation. But those seven members were chosen based on a matrix where there's a skill set that we want to see across the entire board as well as some skills we want to see individually for all board members. That's now in place. We're transitioning folks in. We've made the first appointments as of September 1st, the next group starting in January 1st, with onboarding to happen. And with that, Mr. Speaker, it's certainly my hope given the matrix, given our intentions, we'll see creativity, we'll see innovation, and we'll ultimately, I hope, see better governance and more opportunities to come for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation which benefits the residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And speaking of innovation and all those wonderful things that the Minister hopes to see in there, my assumption is obviously the Minister has done a mandate letter for this new board. Can the Minister speak to some of those -- realizing it's a big document, Mr. Speaker, speak to some of the things in that mandate letter. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right, we have done a letter of direction to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. It's been some time since there was a document like this done, so this was another good opportunity for some renewal on behalf of the government to the power corporation. And the letter includes strategic directions, so things -- you know, first and foremost, ensuring that we keep affordability at the front of our minds and looking for ways to enhance that affordability with, you know, increasing the diversity of energy resources available as well as putting growth targets in, seeking out opportunities, and focusing on, again, systems planning as I mentioned earlier today on other questions, but also accountability framework, so -- and operational things, Mr. Speaker. So really ensuring that there's good governance, good opportunities to take advantage of what is out there, go out and find some more opportunities to bring down the costs for residents through different types of growth targets and really make sure the power corporation is working as best as it can for us as a shareholder but ultimately for the residents it serves. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad to hear the Minister talk about bringing down the cost of energy supply, Mr. Speaker. We know we have what's happening in Taltson and other areas. Can the Minister confirm that included in that and what it will mean for the new LNG energy supply being created in the Beaufort Delta and what she anticipates that impact will have on the energy consumption in that area or energy in general. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can certainly say that the power corporation already does keep in touch with both the GNWT's energy staff, who are also involved in this issue, and together they then in turn keep in touch with those at the IRC or IDC advancing the Inuvialuit energy supply project. And certainly happy to say that I'll re-enforce to them that we want to be working together to have domestic energy supply as much as we can, increases resiliency, is certainly lower carbon than the current diesel that is often used in those communities, and we want to make sure that we're supporting every opportunity to be using domestic energy wherever we can. So certainly happy to follow up with the staff at both entities and make sure that we're doing just that. Thank you.
