EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I will try to be as clear as my colleague from Cambridge Bay, and I hope to get clearer responses from the Minister of Energy.
Yesterday the minister indicated to Nunavummiut that the URRC approved part of the rate increases last year, and the remaining 6.1 percent is yet to be implemented.
I think we agree that this is a fact.
The fact is also that the URRC, according to the report tabled by the Premier, indicated that on May 24 this year or shortly after, that they were going to table additional rate increase proposals.
Has the minister received that report to date?
Minister responsible for Education and Energy, Minister Picco.
I can confirm for the member that they asked, and the revenue shortfall in the GRA application.
I’m wearing my Qulliq Energy Corporation tie today, was 6.3 percent, but the Power Corporation came forward and has asked for a general rate increase of 6.1 percent, which was in the GRA process, so everyone is aware of this because all that documentation is public.
Any application for a rate increase is forwarded to the minister, in this case me, my office, and that is forwarded onto the URRC. At the present time the URRC is looking only at the 6.1 percent asked that we spoke about in the House, and some of the issues around accumulating some of the deficit amounts that were in the fund that was available to the Power Corporation.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. Your first supplementary, Mr. Curley.
I thank the minister for his answer but he’s avoiding a very simple question and that is not my supplementary. I asked the minister whether or not the minister has received the application yet; the one that is promised by the URRC would table a report on or before the 24th of this year.
My question is NPC has recommended and asked for an additional 6.1 percent to recover a possible deficit in an amount that is a similar amount to the rate that was approved last year.
So I’m asking if the minister does not have to just depend on the URRC whether or not the ratepayers should be paying for the recovery of those expenditures that have been incurred through a deficit.
So I’m asking the minister can he accept recommendations from the member of this House that deficit should not be passed on to the rate payers; they have the extra burden on fuel rates, electricity general rate, as well as the, in some cases, capitalization rider that is normally added on. So he’s not simply going to rubber stamp the application from the NPC that is requesting for offset the deficit.
Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Curley. That will be a supplementary to your first question.
Hon. Ed Picco: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For clarity again let me say to the member that the application that the member has talked about has been received. There’s only one rate application from the URRC that has come to my office; that is for the 6.1 percent increase.
In that proposal there’s an acknowledgement of $5.7 million deficit within the corporation, and the corporation was proposing in that rate application to be able to gather that money to recoup those expenses over a 12 to 18 month period.
The role of the URRC is to look at all the pertinent information and look at what the revenue stream is, as well as the revenue requirement, and they’ll do that.
I’m not, as the minister responsible, going to say one way or the other what the decision of the minister and the Cabinet would be when we receive the recommendation from the URRC because we have not received them yet.
So that’s hypothetical.
I can’t comment on that. What I can say is that the people of Nunavut should be rest assured with is that the URRC provides a check and balance for the consumer, and for the government, and for the people of Nunavut. In the past when people thought it was going to be 17, 18 percent; it wasn’t the case.
Very quickly for the record the Power Corporation, under the URRC, has said that they don’t like to see anything above a 15 percent rate shock. I believe them when they say that.
So I think that should give some level of comfort to Nunavummiut.
Mr. Curley: Mr. Speaker, I think that gives a certain comfort by the ratepayers of Nunavut.
What I’m trying to get across to the minister is that if the general rate increase is implemented as well as the recovery; let’s say a hypothetical additional six percent is added on to the general rate, in some cases that increase is going to be significant to communities outside of Iqaluit.
Iqaluit will only be impacted by about two points of kilowatt-hours, so the minister does not have to worry about his constituency.
But my point is that the Utility Rate Review Council is not only the spokesperson that, if hypothetically, Nunavut Power Corporation incurred a shortfall, why should the policy of this government be that you will pass that on to the rate payers?
Hon. Ed Picco: Well first of all, I want to make it clear; I don’t like the allegation that the member makes that because my constituents won’t be feeling it, it is inappropriate verbiage in this House.
The Utility Rate Review Council is an independent body of government, and they will review the application as it comes forward. It is not the policy on the deficit of the government and so on, and so forth, because nothing has come to us yet.
I am trying to say to the member, to give the member a level of comfort, and the people of Nunavut, 80 percent of our customer base and residents in Nunavut, live in social housing units.
That rate is 6 cents a kilowatt-hour no matter if you’re in Grise Fiord, Rankin Inlet, or Iqaluit.
That rate hasn’t changed Mr. Speaker, for a decade, and did not change when the 16 percent went up.
Your government, Mr. Speaker, protected the consumer base. Not only did the government protect the consumer base, but also it increased the subsidy level from 700 to 1000 kilowatt hours from October to March of the winter season when most electricity is expended.
I would suggest to you again, Mr. Speaker, that the government, when we receive the report from the Utility Rate Review Council, we want to let them do their job.
It is not appropriate for the minister to prejudge what a ruling would be, although the member is trying to bring that out.
I appreciate the member raising the issue because it does bring some clarity, and hopefully, a level of comfort to all of our constituents whether they are in Iqaluit, in Niaqunnguuq; in Apex, or in Kangiqliniq; Rankin Inlet.
Just a reminder, please keep your answers brief and to the point.
Mr. Curley: Mr. Speaker, that gives them assurance by the repair that there will be fair consideration by the Utility Rate Review Council as well as the minister’s department.
The point is, and I would like the minister to indicate that Nunavut Power Corporation, have they applied for implementing the 6.1 percent general rate that was approved last year? Have they also applied, whether it is through this Utility Rate Review Council review process, have they applied for an additional rate increase through a rider to offset the potential shortfall?
First of all, there has been no new application for a fuel rider.
The fuel rider has been extended until September 30, and that’s 3.98 cents a kilowatt hour. That will continue to the 30th.
Again, we don’t know if there is going to be the need for another rider, or what have you, because we haven’t purchased the fuel yet for the upcoming season. We’ll be able to look at that this fall.
The Power Corporation asked for 6.1 percent in a rate increase, which is what is public knowledge, and at the same time, there is a deficit within the corporation that they would like to recover of about $5.7 million over a 12 or 24-month recovery period.
That forms part of the application. Again, that is why the Utility Rate Review Council will look at that and see what the merits of the cases are, and then we’ll come forward with their recommendations.
Question 320 – 2(3): Flight Transportation Assistance to Attend Funerals (Barnabas)
In some of the communities there are some individuals who are now residing in southern provinces and they’re eligible to receive income support from any provincial government.
When one of their relatives dies, they are usually paid and flown up to their own community to attend the funeral of a relative.
I would like to know if the provincial government pays for it, or if the Nunavut Government pays for brining a relative to their original community in order to attend the funeral of a relative.
I apologize. Your question I believe is directed to Mr. Picco.
I apologize. Mr. Barnabas, I would like to ask you whom you would like to direct this question to.
To the Minister of Health and Social Services.
As indicated earlier we have a little bit of a dialectal difference and we tend to misunderstand at times.
When Nunavummiut travel to other jurisdiction for health care services, and should pass away in our care we would then transport the body back to the community.
The program that we cover doesn’t address people that have lived down south on a long-term basis.
We provide that service to our patients that we send out for care and transport the body back, should they die in that particular hospital or what not.
I’m sure that applies to an individual who is in our care. The body is transported back to their original community. There are some people who are responsible.
For example, if an individual is receiving income support would the provincial government pay to transport the body back to his or her original community, or is it the responsibility of the Nunavut Government?
Hon. Leona Aglukkaq: Currently the Department of Health does not have any program funding to transport bodies from other jurisdictions to Nunavut for individuals that have not resided in Nunavut.
In the past there have been some discussions around that, along with income support, which is administered through the Department of Education, but the Department of Health, as it is now, is responsible for transporting the body back to the community where the person was sent from for medical.
For any individuals outside of that and live down south and die in that particular province, we don’t have funding with the Department of Health to cover those types of expenses.
Most of our communities have very high unemployment and usually the Ladies Auxiliaries or some other volunteer group raise funds so that a body can be returned from a southern point to a northern community, and it is not cheap. Could your department consider setting some money aside that could be used to transport bodies from the south to the original communities?
Minister of Health and Social Services. Ms. Aglukkaq.
Mr. Speaker, again we provide the assistance to current residents of our territory to transport the body back but I will also speak to my colleague from the Department of Education and see what is there, see what other jurisdictions do as well, just to research it a bit further. But as it is right now, I just want to reassure the member that for patients that we do send out we do send the body back should the person die in our care.
Could the minister work with her counterparts to discuss this issue?
Mr. Speaker, I will work with my colleagues and perhaps Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and the Inuit Organizations also to look at and explore what options that we have around that and to other jurisdictions to see what they currently have done and see what we can come up with.
Question 321 – 2(3): Budget Situation for Nunavut (Tootoo)
Mr. Speaker, as we all know, later this afternoon we are going to be in Committee of the Whole. We are going to be looking at two supplementary bills, Bill 18 and Bill 17, and I just want to note, with a lot of relief, that these bills for supplementary are for this current fiscal year and not for the last fiscal year.
I think that when we met with the government officials and the Auditor General after the last fiscal year ended, the government officials indicated to the members of the committee that there would not be any departments running a deficit for the last fiscal year.
I just want to have that said, on the record, it was said behind closed doors, that even though it was a public meeting, I would like to have that mentioned here in the House, if he can reaffirm the comments that were made by the senior government officials at that time, here in the House.
All I can say at this point is that float books are still open, so that is still a moving target, we can’t say 100% for sure there will not be a deficit.
There should not be, but it is still a moving target right now because the books are still open. Until we close the books we won’t know for sure exactly what we are going to end up with.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Minister. (interpretation ends) Your first supplementary, Mr. Tootoo.
I know the books are still open but surely with all the improvements that have been happening in Finance over the last couple of years and the financial gurus that work in the Department of Finance, they must have a pretty solid idea, by now, three months after year end, whether or not any of the departments or government will have a deficit or not.
Can he give us any indication if there, based on what they have seen so far, three months after year-end, if any departments may be close to, or if they know for sure yet, will be running a deficit?
Again let me say the books are still open so we don’t know for sure. We still have not received all of the data from the other departments.
My financial gurus are doing a fantastic job of improving and strengthening financial management in Nunavut, but we simply have not received all of the data from the departments.
As the minister has indicated, I know that March 31 is the longest day of the year in financial terms.
Does he have an idea of when that day will end?
Has there been a directive coming from the Department of Finance to the line departments to make sure a date of which they have to have all the information into the Department of Finance?
Then they can close the books and turn the clock over to the next day.
Yes. We should be in that position by the end of this month. It should be by June 30, 2006.
Would the minister commit to informing all members via correspondence once that day is done and reaffirm comments that were made by government officials at the Auditor General’s hearings that, in fact, finally for the first time the government didn’t break the law and spend money without getting approval by the Legislative Assembly first.
As soon as he is aware of that will he inform the members via correspondence?
I will inform the Chair of the appropriate committee.
Question 322 – 2(3): Status of Nunavut’s Film Industry (Barnabas)
I would like to ask Mr. Netser for the very first time, the Minister of Economic Development. I apologize.
Since today is our last day, I think we’ve been here for some time now so we’re making mistakes.
As Inuit are known worldwide how they had developed a lot through carving, and by way of arts and crafts.
Also in the recent years Inuit have been making movie productions and this has been very successful using our oral history, and using our own language.
(interpretation ends) I am concerned about the status of Nunavut’s film industry.
What specific actions is the minister taking to ensure that the Nunavut Film Commission is able to fulfill its mandate?
Minister for Economic Development and Transportation, Mr. Akesuk.
I would like to see the Nunavut Film Commission be successful. After March 31, I’m sure there will be improved work on that.
Economic Development and Transportation has provided $650,000 in funding for Nunavut film production.
(interpretation ends) Mr. Speaker, I have raised concerns regarding staffing problems of the commission and the late issuing of proposal calls. What exactly is the minister doing to address these issues?
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Barnabas. Minister Akesuk.
I have directed my staff to come up with ideas of how we could deliver this commission better and how our staff could improve to serve our constituents and our territory, on how we could work better with the film commission.
How many projects has the Nunavut Film Commission actually funded to date in 2006-07?
I don’t have the numbers with me.
I can get back to my colleague to give him the numbers of how many have been approved for this year’s projects.
I don’t have the information in front of me, so I’ll get back to my colleague as soon as I get the information from my staff.
According to industry stakeholders, close to $1 million of Nunavut Inuktitut Language Film projects were disadvantaged during the recent TeleFilm Canada Aboriginal Language Funding because Nunavut Film had yet to review proposals submitted to the policy’s Nunavut Labour Rebate Program.
Nunavut Film has never delivered calls for proposals in a timely manner according to the film policy guidelines.
How will the minister and his department ensure film policy programs are delivered in a timely manner?
Probably in the first or second question I tried to answer that earlier, saying that I have directed my staff to look into how we better deliver this to our people in Nunavut.
I’d like this done as soon as possible, how we could deliver our programs better towards our people in Nunavut.
Question 323 – 2(3): Update on Meeting with Minister Prentice (Peterson)
My question is for the Premier and it concerns an article in the June 9 Nunatsiaq News entitled: GN Hosts Dog and Pony Show in Ottawa.
It was related to a lunch reception on May 16.
Mr. Speaker, in that article the Federal Minister for Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Mr. Prentice, apparently stated that a Northern Vision will be developed to replace the Northern Strategy process launched by the old Paul Martin government and they sent a discussion paper to the three territorial premiers.
My question for the Premier is: can the Premier share with the House what the draft contents are in the Northern Vision Discussion Paper that Minister Prentice sent to the three territorial Premiers?
The Minister is very keen on working on northern issues.
They haven’t provided us with a draft yet. Once we get a draft then we’ll look at it and see what we can do with it.
Until I get the draft and see what can be produced I’m not at liberty to share anything at this point.
I hope when the Premier does get it he can give us all MLAs a copy because we don’t sit again until November, or perhaps in September when we’re here for standing committee meetings.
In the same article it states, “Prentice is in the process of getting approved from the federal government for a mandate to start devolution talks with Nunavut.”
The Government of Nunavut has hired a devolution negotiator. We have a devolution division within EIA. The Premier and the Government of Nunavut stated that they’d like to have devolution negotiations concluded by 2008.
My question for the Premier is: can he give the House a date of when he realistically expects the devolution negotiations to begin?
I’ve explained this both to the Prime Minister and Mr. Prentice and they’re both fully aware of our expectations of the mandate.
The mandate will drive the pace of the negotiations. I was very clear that I’d rather see a chief negotiator hired soon and Minister Prentice assured me that he’d act on that.
As opposed to the mandate I’d like a good strong mandate that can address our issues fully.
That could speed up negotiations quite readily so I’m hopeful that we’ll commence negotiations in the near future. I’m sure that I’ll get an update from the minister when he comes here later next month.
I look forward to further discussion with Minister Prentice and commencing negotiations as soon as possible.
I’ve consistently advocated over the years that it’s important to have a strong relation with the federal government, regardless of who is in power.
I was impressed to some degree that the Government of Nunavut took this initiative to go down there and raise awareness for Nunavut. As the Premier is aware I took the Mayors in Nunavut to Ottawa one year for the same purpose.
My question for the Premier is: does the Government of Nunavut have any plans to undertake similar awareness efforts with the Government of Canada over the next 12 to 18 months?
It takes a while to organize these events.
The event that we’ve held in Ottawa has been on and off over the last two years. We’ll see how it goes. We’re waiting the outcome of a lot of the efforts that we put forward to the federal government, and how successful that was.
I look forward to more progress on these files, but we’ll see how things proceed and from there decide what further steps we should take.
A report was done up on this trip to Ottawa; it was submitted to Cabinet, and it was, of course, leaked to the media. In a section of the report it says, “Head of Communications at the Office of the Premier will discuss the efforts of the local media and in the Nunavut Assembly.”
My question for the Premier is: if a report does exist will the Premier commit to table a report of the Nunavut Awareness Day that was held on May 16? Will he commit to table in the House later today?
I think you have a copy of the information item that was provided already, so I felt that it might be redundant to table the document.
So I believe that the report is obvious leaked from some source. So we’re looking into that matter. But, everybody has a copy of what took place already, thanks to Nunatsiaq News.
Question 324 – 2(3): Investigation Report on Employees (Tootoo)
Mr. Tootoo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Before I ask my question, again it’s our last day; I would like to say “hi” to a couple of people that always put a smile on my face. One of them is sitting behind me here. They just came into the Gallery, Ms. Rebecca Veevee.
And, the other one is Jutanie Keep Calling. All I can say is he will understand. He watches the show religiously as well.
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister Responsible for Human Resources. Yesterday, the Minister of Health had indicated that the Professional Practices Unit had conveyed information to a deputy in regards to findings from a particular investigation that they had done.
My question to the Minister of Human Resources is: is he aware of any investigation reports that have been filed with his department regarding any employees within his department?
Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Tapardjuk.
To his question, I haven’t heard, nor do I know if there is a report. I checked and there are none.
Speaker (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Tapardjuk. Mr. Tootoo.
I was distracted, so I didn’t see.
Question 325 – 2(3): Polar Bear Cannibalism (Curley)
I would like to direct my question to...I haven’t tabled this yet, but it’s from the Globe and Mail in regard to polar bears, that polar bears are eating each other now. The US Geological Survey has found two female bears that were eaten. There were four polar bears that were found in the Beaufort Sea.
They had cubs that had already been eaten also.
I wonder if this is new. I wonder if according to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit this is new.
This question is directed to the Minister of Environment. Mr. Netser.
Hon. Patterk Netser (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Alagalak, on his Member’s Statement.
The polar bear cannibalism...I have seen this, and I have heard about this. When they get old they don’t hunt very well, so they start to eat each other.
Yes, what I would like to say about Polar bears is that I think that bears in zoos are dying, too.
There were three polar bears; two were collared in Beaufort Sea.
This was news that they died while they have been tagged. According to the Inuit knowledge, once they have drugs, they impair their judgment.
I wonder if the minister can check further into this situation according to the Canadian story and to be able to report back to the session next fall so that we can get a report that came from Canada.
Yes, I will do that. During the leadership review, what he mentioned was that the elders were going to have a meeting.
He gave that suggestion and I can, at this time, inform the House that we are currently planning to have a meeting amongst the elders in regards to wildlife in the fall.