Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On page 9-20, the item at the bottom of the page, the NWTTA professional improvement fund. Noting about a 40 percent increase from the current year to the coming year, I wonder if the Minister could provide some information on the case for this seemingly quite significant jump. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of areas of detailed enquiry, but I will save them until we get to the appropriate part in the budget, Mr. Chairman. I did want to ask though of a reference the Minister made in his opening comments to continuing to invest in some software upgrades to our existing financial information system to keep it functional while a decision regarding its replacement is pending. We're going to spend almost $200,000 on these interim software upgrades, Mr. Chairman.

It's something that I know came before committee, I think in at least the last two years of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I referred to a study on the national child benefit supplement, and I would like to table the document this morning offered by Alternatives North called “Stop the NWT Clawback of the National Child Tax Benefit Supplement.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. During the Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray two weeks ago, I was proud to accept the invitation of the Honourable Henry Zoe to help represent the NWT and this Assembly. The three days that I spent there were actually the sixth chance that I've had to be at an Arctic Winter Games, Mr. Speaker; three times as a reporter; twice as a volunteer; and this time as a representative of this government. That goes back to the very first time the games were staged here in Yellowknife 34 years ago.

I was impressed, Mr. Speaker, not only with the calibre of our...

Okay. So if we had the money, we would do it right away. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On the revenue side of taxation, I would just like some clarification. Do the numbers posted here reflect the increases that would come, pending approval of the taxation measures that the Minister has proposed? Are those numbers reflected in the projection here? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a pleasure today to recognize four constituents that I know in the Assembly today; of course, Ms. Nancy Trotter; Paul Christopher of the NWT Wrestling Federation; my constituency assistant, Mr. John Argue; and, our royalty in waiting, Mr. Speaker, Mildred Wilke. Thank you.

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Thank you. That helps answer a question there, that we have made at least a technical decision. Okay, everything is going up in cost. As we continue to delay or defer this, the sense that I have is that this is not really an option for us. We're going to have to bite the bullet on this. For every year that we put this off, Mr. Chairman, how much more is it costing us? What's the inflation rate on this stuff? Are we unnecessarily deferring or delaying this necessary decision? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the fiscal policy area, the department’s responsibility, among the many responsibilities, is to work out the formula financing agreement with Canada. An issue that dogged us over the last few years was trying to settle down, Mr. Chairman, the results of the national census and how that impacts federal transfer payments to the Government of the NWT. I wanted to take this opportunity to ask if that whole issue of how many people live in the Northwest Territories has finally been settled at least as far as it relates to the amount of revenue we get from Ottawa. Thank...

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a couple of things I would like to follow through on, starting with a few things that Minister Roland told us about in his opening remarks. Specifically to the information he provided saying among the priorities for the coming year are going to be identifying the issues to be considered in a possible review of the Liquor Act. This is something that this government should be looking at as a fairly high priority, Madam Chair. The Liquor Act has been around for some time now and I have a sense from amongst people who are clients, if you will -- Liquor Act...