Bill Braden

Thank you. This, indeed, is the kind of discussion that is useful to the whole topic, but it is one that I think really needs to be broadly expanded, Mr. Speaker, if we’re going to sit here and debate the fine points of a mandate and judicial ruling, we could be here for a long time and not address what really is at issue here. That is the cost in human terms of the abuse and mismanagement of alcohol. So at least in consideration of the environment we’re in today, what steps will the Minister take to endorse our Liquor Licensing Board’s new and more proactive approach to enforcing our laws...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So now we have other information, other circumstances, and even though it's only the space of a couple of years we are, I feel, compelled to reverse that situation and go with the 14 percent rate.

I've said it several times before and it's a message, I think, that's worth repeating. Anything that our government does to increase the cost of living or the cost of doing business in the NWT has to be considered very, very carefully. There are so many other cost drivers here that we have no control over that put the crimp on people, on their families and on their...

Okay. How many, 30 hours? Twenty eight hours left in the month, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Alright, we still have a day to go, maybe we will play around with this one tomorrow.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Will the Minister recommend other than "industrial standards" for land that may be used for residential areas?

Will the Minister consult with the City of Yellowknife in the determination of reclamation standards?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is fine, that is all. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, then to the business community doing business with this government, and we are a major part of the economy here, how then do I take that kind of an explanation and work it into my business plan so that I know that there’s going to be some consistency, some predictability, some stability to how I operate my business and how I do business with the GNWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am just trying to do the math quickly here. It looks like about 15 percent. Are we adding about 15 percent to the previous estimate?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Premier. They relate to the whole area of our government’s application of policy and the measures by which we apply that. It was interesting yesterday afternoon, Mr. Speaker, in response to a question from my colleague, Mr. Hawkins, that the Premier said the following, and I quote from the unedited Hansard, “Mr. Speaker, I have to say that policies are policies. They’re general directions and guidelines. They’re not one of the Ten Commandments. They’re not laws. There is room for some exception there where we can warrant it.” So I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To this topic of the lawsuit, I appreciate that the matter is before the courts. The Minister indicated that this has been underway for more than four years now. Would he be prepared to advise committee of whether or not we are at all close to a resolution? Can we anticipate that we will be able to see this remedied or resolved in the near future? Thank you.

Okay. So we started with $15 million, we have now run over that. What were the principle drivers, Mr. Chairman? What caused us to use this $15 million reserve up in this past year? Thank you.