Bill Braden

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will speak in favour of the bill. As the committee’s report noted, this is the last tax impact bill that this assembly will deal with on the revenue initiatives in the 2004-05 budget address. It was presented to us very responsibly by the Minister in the budget when we looked at doing a number of things that were required or seemed to make good sense for us. Two things stand out for me in support of this bill, Madam Chair. One is that with our very limited ability to raise or generate a lot of our own revenues through taxes, we can only make very minor amendments...

Okay, Mr. Speaker. I won’t pursue that line of questioning anymore. The Premier has made it abundantly clear that the decision is to keep that private. However, I would ask the Premier again, related to this, would these steps require that Mr. Zoe be absent from his job for any substantive period of time, and over what period of time might these steps be required? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7 on the order paper.

Mr. Speaker, as the 15th Assembly has been preparing its work plans and its priorities in committee, and in consultation with other leaders in the NWT, a fair amount of attention has been paid to growing and sustaining a workforce with the government that is capable and willing to perform the tasks that we require as a new government. A number of areas of how do we do this, how do we enable our civil service to be the best it can be have been addressed? Is a review of the affirmative action policy one of the priorities that this government will undertake during the life of this assembly?...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier, and they are a follow-up to my statement about an aspect of the affirmative action policy. As I said, I have had constituents remark, and in fact complain, that the policy really amounts to a form of age discrimination. I also spoke of our previous government's commitment to look at this issue, but I have found in my research no evidence that this was addressed. Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell this assembly whether this government has examined its affirmative action policy in light of changing circumstances and the passage...

Mr. Chairman, if I were to put one question forward it would be to see if the Minister could give us a snapshot given that all our optimistic forecasts come to bear and we have projects like Snap Lake, like a Mackenzie River bridge, like a Mackenzie Valley pipeline come into reality. What kinds of revenues potentially could this payroll tax net for the NWT? Could you paint us a picture of that benefit?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This too is something that I hope the whole idea of going and looking at two different acts takes some time. But I would put to the Minister to consider that I think we already have a very strong precedent for that in our government, and this is in the area of tobacco legislation. I think it is the Department of Finance that looks after taxation and administration of cigarettes, but, yet, the Department of Health has demonstrated, I think with extraordinary vigour and good results, that we are making headway on the reduction of tobacco and its impact on society. I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this afternoon is a follow-up to my statement and it is directed to the Minister of Finance concerning the upcoming review of the Liquor Act. I wonder if the Minister could give us an outline of the process that the government is planning on undertaking in its review and rewrite of the Liquor Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a newsletter that I recently distributed to my riding, Mr. Speaker, I proposed that this government should consider taking a review to a new step in that we would be probably looking at two acts governing the way we control liquor. Mr. Speaker, one act would provide an effective business framework for the supply, the taxation and the pricing of alcohol. The other, and the far more significant one, the one we really need, is to legislate an entirely new approach for the prevention, awareness, enforcement, treatment and community empowerment, a social approach to...

Mr. Speaker, I'm looking forward to a process whereby the public can get involved with this, whether it's a panel or a committee process. But we all know that the degree of input, the quality and the calibre of the input will certainly improve when people get access to some resources. So I'd like to ask the Minister would the non-government organizations, or frontline service agencies, be factored into this and be able to access funding or other assistance to help in their involvement in a review of the Liquor Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause