EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Again, Mr. Speaker, the General Rate Application document was a document that did not come to the cabinet; it was not produced by the Government of Nunavut.
It’s a proposal on behalf and for the Power Corporation, based on what they feel they need.
That’s why you go through an independent process like the Utility Rates Review Council, who will be able to ascertain and provide that check and balance.
So, Mr. Speaker, the process is working.
I believe the minister contradicted himself.
In my first question, he said he was not aware of any amendments and then he just said in his second response that he was aware this morning that there had been an error and that it was changed.
To me, if that’s not an amendment, then I don’t know what is.
Would the minister agree, as I do, that the ability for the communities consulted to respond appropriately to the General Rate Application has been compromised by the failure of the corporation to provide them with accurate and up-to-date information on which they base their intervention.
They are not providing the public with the correct information.
To me, that jeopardizes the integrity of the whole process.
It was not until a lot of dragging it out of the Power Corporation and its officials at the meeting last night that they admitted the rates in the General Rate Application that were handed out to every community, that were on the table last night, were in fact wrong and that they had been increased, that they didn’t tell anyone.
I just want to quickly go back.
The member asked me if was I aware of any amendments and I said, no, I am not aware of what it was.
Mr. Speaker, the information given to me this morning was simply that the corporation had provided information that was incomplete and inaccurate.
They have tried to correct their record; that’s my understanding from an e-mail I received this morning.
As the member knows, when I came out of caucus, it was 11-11:30; I just found out that information.
So, I am trying right now to ascertain what exactly was that information.
I can only go by what the member is saying now in his questions that indeed, there are issues around how much the rate was increased and so on.
Mr. Speaker, the whole process of the Utility Rates Review Council is to take that application to allow intervenors like the chamber of commerce, like individual citizens, to say, “Look, this is what we believe based on the application by the Power Corporation; it is it right, is it fair, is it too much,” and so on.
That process is continuing, Mr. Speaker.
If there is inaccuracy within the information provided by the Power Corporation, then we will have to deal with the corporation with that.
It is my understanding that the corporation has done and tried to do due diligence on the application process that they put forward; it’s in the General Rate Application.
Mr. Speaker, if there is incomplete and wrong information, the first I have heard of it is right now, other than being told this morning in an e-mail that information provided at the meeting was incomplete or inaccurate.
I don’t know what the amounts and the rates were.
I was told the information was wrong.
So, I was not aware of any amendments to it, only the information.
I would say that an error in the rates provided by the corporation in the General Rate Application, distributed publicly through all the meetings, even after they made the change, still providing the wrong information, to me, jeopardizes the integrity of the whole process.
If they give information to the public to be able to respond to that is not accurate, then what was the point of doing it?
Does the minister know what’s going on over there?
He is the minister responsible; the buck stops with the minister.
The minister is supposed to be on top of these things.
I would like to ask the minister what steps he is going to take to make sure that this process is done properly, so that people have accurate information on which to base their inventions.
To me, the process, going around with inaccurate information was a waste of time.
Will the minister commit to finding out the information.
If he doesn’t know it, I’m surprised he doesn’t know it.
Will he look at finding out the information and ascertaining and letting the public know if they, in fact, will re-look at the whole process?
Because to me, going around with public consultations with inaccurate information is a waste of time.
There is one thing I’ve learned and, Mr. Speaker, as the Premier tried to point out the other day, everyone is learning, is that you can’t go on one side.
Mr. Speaker, the member has said that the information provided... .
He quoted numbers.
All the information I have right now, we only heard about this morning, myself, the Premier, the other members, after the hearings were held, was that there was information provided by the Power Corporation that they tried to fix.
I don’t know what the information was.
He’s got other information.
I don’t know if he was at the meeting, and he’s making allegations that the veracity of the report, the statutory declaration that has been signed by the CEO of the corporation, indeed is inaccurate and that information has been provided that may not be complete.
Mr. Speaker, those are serious allegations that I need to be able to review with the cabinet to see what direction we take.
However, at the end of the day, the process for the Utility Rate Review Council is to look at the information that has been provided, which is what they’re doing, and to ascertain if that application process should move forward with their rates that have been proposed by the corporation.
Mr. Speaker, the due diligence on the part of the corporation is what was put forward in that proposal.
The minister doesn’t go through it with a fine-tooth comb to see if every piece of information that was provided is accurate.
That is the basis of the proposal itself, and by the management of the corporation, and that is why there was a statutory declaration by the CEO to say that their information provided was correct.
Mr. Speaker, now the member has raised some issues and I and the Premier and the rest of the cabinet will take that seriously and we will find out what indeed has occurred and if, indeed, the Premier who is Minister Responsible for the Utility Rates Review Council, will speak to this chair to see if he believes that there is a concern with the process to date.
I haven’t seen any communication from the Utility Rates Review Council chair to say that they feel the whole program and the consultation has been fruitless because of this new information.
That’s the best answer we can give.
Again, on the basis of transparency and accountability, we will look at the information that the member has raised.
Question 116 – 2(2): Update on the Northern Vision Strategy
It is concerning the Northern Vision and Strategy.
Mr. Speaker, during the throne speech, I heard a reference to a Northern Vision and Strategy being developed by the three territories’ premiers and the Prime Minister of Canada.
I was hoping for an announcement about how much progress had been made on that strategy and vision.
Could the Premier make an announcement, tell us when he’s going to make that announcement.
Is it going to be during this sitting, or will we have to wait until February?
We were all hoping that we could finalize that this week.
But as everyone knows, the Prime Minister’s agenda was sort of highjacked by a visitor that is trying to work with our government, the national government.
We’re looking at probably December, if not, January to finalize our northern vision.
I just got off the phone with Minister Scott, the Indian Affairs minister, and they’re trying to finalize it this week with a view to having the Prime Minister on with all the premiers from the North to join in the announcement.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Premier Okalik.
I thank the Premier for that update.
Can the Premier tell the House how Nunavummiut will be involved in consultations in the strategy, or have they been involved in consultations?
To date, we have just had discussions, and we are working on a joint agenda on what we can deliver jointly in the short-term, medium-term, and long-term.
So, we are very optimistic that we can come up with an agenda and some deliverables in the very near future.
I share with all Nunavummiut the interest of finding out before the Christmas holidays how the strategy and the vision will help them.
Perhaps if the Premier could give us an update and explain to this House, on behalf of Nunavummiut, how the Northern Vision Strategy will help Nunavummiut overcome our housing, economic development, health and education, and many other issues, so that they and we can enjoy the same standard quality of life as other Canadians do.
I know that it’s a work in progress, so I can’t outline exact details of the statement and discussions that we are having, but I made it clear that devolution has to be a part of the short-term.
So, that’s one area that we are working on, but there’s a lot of others, like housing and other initiatives that Nunavummiut feel strongly about, that we will make sure are addressed in that strategy.
Can the Premier give us an indication of whether this vision strategy will contain announcements of additional federal funding to help us with some of our problems in Nunavut?
As I said, I spoke with Mr. Scott and he was hoping to finalize this strategy and clear it with his government by the end of the week so we can work on finding ways to jointly have an announcement with the Prime Minister and the two other territorial premiers.
So, hopefully next month; if not, then the following month.
Member for Kugluktuk. Mr. Evyagotailak.
Question 117 – 2(2): Plans to Place Wind Generators in Nunavut
We know that there are a lot of windmills going up everyday in the world.
I would like to ask the minister if he is starting the plans to put up some wind generators in Nunavut.
And also, a second question: how many wind generators are there in Nunavut?
A little over a year ago, we had a meeting with the federal department of natural resources who provided funding to us to complete what’s called a “wind map” by Environment Canada, to show us the best opportunities to place the wind generating system, commonly referred to as a windmill.
Mr. Speaker, the plans are in the works to look at some economies of scale for putting some windmills in place.
Two locations seem to be conducive to that, one being in the Keewatin, another in the Kitikmeot.
Mr. Speaker, at the same time, I had meetings with the minister of energy in Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro, to discuss the opportunities to look at the wind project that they brought forward, a wind farm.
Mr. Speaker, in our case that the member is talking about, we have in the past, the Northwest Territories government and the Power Corporation, put up single generating windmills, one or two here and there.
Mr. Speaker, the evidence and the information, as the member has said earlier in the House, is that you need a wind farm; you need some economies of scale, and that is the plan we are moving forward on.
I believe, Mr. Speaker, at the present time, there are approximately four or five windmills in Nunavut.
I believe one is actually in place and is actually generating some power.
I will have to confirm those numbers.
Mr. Speaker, when I was in Kugluktuk with the member a few weeks ago, I did see, again, the old windmill in Kugluktuk that was collapsed and lying on the ground.
At some point, we would like to be able to have the technology in place so that we would actually be able to put in the new windmill, fix the issue with the windmill in that community.
Thank you, Minister of Energy.
The windmill in Kugluktuk has been down for a couple of years now; I’m not sure exactly how long it’s been down.
But, I sure would like to see the wind generator fixed.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the minister if he’s got any plans to work on it and get the wind generator fixed in the future.
Mr. Speaker, there are some technical issues around wind generation in Nunavut.
In most communities that you see in the South, in places where they put wind farms, when the windmill operation is working at efficiency, that is when the wind is current and the power is being generated by the wind turbine, Any excess power is fed into a grid system, meaning you would have four or five communities, and it would power 3000-4000 different houses.
In that way, it goes through the whole system.
In Nunavut, we are at a bit of a disadvantage.
Because in our case we have no way to feed the extra power other than to put them into batteries, into dry storage batteries that are being associated with the windmill.
In the past, with the technology that was in place, it’s my understanding for the engineering feasibilities and so on, that when the wind turbine was creating energy, that excess energy also means that the generator at the power plant is still on, and you’d have a case where the power cuts in and out on the generator and causes damage to your major generator.
There are some issues, technologically, with how you can have that fixed.
That is one of the reasons why the Power Corporation in the past has put up a windmill here and put up one there: to see how that could be played out and see if they can work out the technical bugs.
Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that technology has moved and progressed, and that’s where there may be an opportunity to be able to look at moving forward with opportunities with wind energy.
The first step was to have the wind map in place, and that’s done right now.
The next step is to look at the capital budget requirement and to see if there’s money available from the federal government, and we spoke about that over the past week in the House of this government.
When I was minister previously, we thought we were the first jurisdiction to sign on the Kyoto Accord for Canada, and there is funding available from the federal government to displace, for example, diesel fuel and to then use cleaner energies.
So, that would be the direction that we would be moving in, Mr. Speaker.
There is an energy strategy being developed and I would hope to be in a position, in the coming months, to table that in the House in regards to other energies and the emerging technologies like wind turbines.
Oral questions, Mr. Mapsalak.
Question 118 – 2(2): Allocation of Polar Bear Quotas
I would like to direct my question to the minister responsible for wildlife.
In my constituency and also from all Nunavummiut, we have a great interest in hearing about the polar bear quota in the communities.
I was wondering if the minister is also responsible for allocating polar bear quotas to the communities.
Yes, I am involved with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.
They give me their recommendations on the allotment of the polar bear quotas.
To date, not of all of the polar bear memoranda of understanding have been signed off.
We are working with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in regards to the allotment of the polar bear quotas.
Does the minister know if all of Nunavut will receive an increase in quota?
As they are being recorded, I can’t really tell you what the progress has been, because the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board will have to give me the recommendations on the quota.
So, we would probably, perhaps by next month, have a better idea whether there is going to be an increase.
So, please wait patiently until we get the recommendations from the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.
Some communities are anticipating polar bear quotas because the polar bear population has increased and the polar bears are disturbing the communities.
I was wondering what’s the real reason why it takes so long to allocate their quotas?
We have to review the MOUs for the polar bears and we have to look at the polar bear management zones.
These management zones were recently created when it was still the Northwest Territories.
We are still using the same policy.
So, that is one of the reasons why it takes so long.
We have to look at the polar bear management boundaries.
It has been about 15 or 20 years after that fact, but they have to review the management zones or the polar bear management boundaries.
We have to look at the boundaries first, before we can review the increase of the quotas.
Speaker (interpretation): Your Final supplementary.
Yes, it takes a while to deal with this issue, and there’s a lot of high interest by the public; they want to harvest polar bears as the polar bear population is increasing drastically.
Perhaps, while you are working with Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, you can ask them to speed things up a bit so that the process could be done a lot sooner.
We have to be very careful in dealing with this process because we want to do it properly for the people of Nunavut.
Yes, if we rush into that, we have to be very careful not to overlook anything so that all the documentation could be done properly.
I will take your advice, and in doing all the things that I can do, I will try and do my best for the people of Nunavut.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you. Member for Uqqurmiut.
Question 119 – 2(2): Reply to the Federal Government on the Species at Risk List
I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Environment, although I asked this question back in November 24 and was not too happy with the response.
The federal government is now working on a legislation, schedule 1 to 3, of a Species at Risk Act.
Back in October 23, 2004, the federal government made an announcement that there was going to be an addition to Schedule 1 to 3 in regards to special concerns of various species.
There are 76 species that they want to put into this species at risk special concern.
These 76 species include polar bears; they want to put polar bears in the special concern.
The federal government has written a letter about the amendments and they wanted to get our reply by a certain date.
Did our Nunavut government write the reply on time, and what did it contain?
In regards to species at risk, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is responsible for that.
We will have a bit of work to do on the species at risk matter, and we have to be steadfast.
I stated in our recent meeting, as a member of the Legislative Assembly, that Inuit considerations on wildlife should be recognized more.
During our Ottawa meeting last week I requested that Inuit people’s views on wildlife be recognized, especially the knowledge of Inuit people on wildlife and environment.
Nunavummiut have been working very closely with the polar bear matters and we’ve also worked very closely with the species at risk and special concern matter.
Yes, we’ve already be working on this issue.
I did not understand one bit why we should not be concerned about all our species in the North.
Polar bears are very important to Nunavummiut, and if they’re going to include polar bears under “special concern”, is it going to have an impact on the number of polar bears that we harvest.
I probably misunderstood you.
I’m sorry if I did not make myself clear.
I’ll try and be clearer.
That NWMB & GN work closely together with the communities on SARA issues, because there are other management zones where the polar bear population has declined, and half of the world’s polar bear population resides in Nunavut.
For that reason, we’re going to work very diligently, because we are also part of the world polar bear research.
Other countries are quite concerned about the polar bear population as well.
Although I had asked the questions on what the correspondence contained, I would like to get the copy of the correspondence about this matter.
Yes, I could supply you with the correspondence.
Question 120 – 2(2): Washroom Facilities on Airlines
Yesterday I had asked a question to the Minister Responsible for Transportation.
I’d like to get back to my question.
As we are all aware, if the airlines fly for more than two hours, they require washroom facilities.
We’ve had a bit of a problem with washroom facilities.
Once we hear the policy on the washroom issue, perhaps the minister can encourage the airlines to abide by the new policy.
Speaker (interpretation): Minister Responsible for Transportation, Mr. Simailak.
Although you had asked that question, there was no response as of yet because the federal government has a mandate to oversee the airlines.
We don’t have the jurisdiction.
The federal government has the jurisdiction over the policy.
We are still requesting more information from the federal government.
Once we get the information, we’ll provide the member with the information.
By way of having frank discussions with the airlines, we can deal with that once we get the information from the federal government.
Member for Tasiujaqjuaq, Mr. Kattuk.
Question 121 – 2(2): General Rate Application Increase
I would like to direct my question to the Minister Responsible for the Power Corporation.
Before coming to this session, I worked really hard with a homeowner and whose power was cut off due to lack of home heating oil.
Now, we have the GRA which proposes to increase electricity costs.
I know if we increase the power rates it’s going to have a negative impact on homeowners.
For the first home owner, I think it was 14 per cent, and today new homeowners face an increase of 18 per cent inSanikiluaq.
My question is why, as we sit here in the Legislature, we finally get the information when it might be the last day of our session.
I am concerned because the regular members will have to provide that information to our constituencies, so why do we have to get the information the very last day of our session?
The process that is underway right now, and we’ve been discussing in this House for the last couple of weeks, is the General Rate Application by the Power Corporation.
The subsidies that were in place since 1998 and the last application that was made to the government of the Northwest Territories are still in place today.
The big issue with the power corporation is, as the business community and the members in this House have said, that the revenue stream was too low; the rates are too low, the rates have not kept up with the cost of living and the increase in fuel, and so on and so forth, since 1998.
Therefore, the application process that’s underway right now by the Power Corporation is to have its rates looked at.
That URRC process is to provide that check and balance.
The corporation just can’t go out and charge whatever it wants.
It has to prove its case to the URRC and then, Mr. Speaker, those recommendations come back to the cabinet.
There will be no increase in rates until the URRC has completed its work.
They have to report to me as the Minister of Energy by the first of February, and the GRA is intended to take place, the application process for a new rate, as of April 1, 2005.
We will have at that time, an opportunity in February, to look at what is being proposed.
I would hope to be able to bring that forward during our February sitting and have input from the members as well as the stakeholders, businesses, and householders.
So, Mr. Speaker, I can’t say right now what the amount of an increase will be.
It will be dependent on how the URRC hearings go, what the recommendations and everything that takes place through that process.
That process will continue up until and including, December 17.
He stated earlier that before this review is completed the increase will not come into effect.
What can we inform our constituents, even though they are expecting this?
We are told that until they come up with their recommendation we won’t know, but we will be going home this week and there’s no doubt that these questions will come up from my constituents.
What can we answer them?
Can we say that there will be hearings and they will go to the communities, and that’s when that will come into effect?
So, how can we respond to our constituents to that question in regards to the increase?
Every member in this House, I am sure, including myself, had been asked by constituents: how much will the rates go up and what will the impact be on homeowners by means of having to pay their electrical bill in Nunavut?
Mr. Speaker, the short answer is: we don’t know yet what that increase will be.