Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am very pleased to be here and to have a chance to have a five-minute discussion with you on a couple of issues.
In the last committee hearing, there was a presentation by Qulliq Energy Corporation, and they talked about the impossibility of the territorial government investing in the hydro project there because of the borrowing limit.
This is a very important issue right now because the federal government, in this budget implementation bill, is bringing in regulations that the federal cabinet can set the conditions for borrowing. One of the key issues was identified in the last meeting, in that self-financing, as in utility companies, is being put under this borrowing limit. So a project like a hydro project, which has a payback to government and is not going to be a burden on government, will be included in this borrowing limit. For Nunavut it is $400 million. For Yukon it is $400 million. So this pretty well takes the two territories, and my territory as well, out of the opportunity to invest in these self-financing projects.
This is a very important question, because the federal government hasn't set these regulations yet, but I have seen copies of these regulations that say they're going to put the self-financing loans under the borrowing limit. Do you think this is a good idea, or do you think our territories should have the ability to invest in projects that provide them a rate of return?