Bill Braden

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Following World War I, the Canadian government introduced some pretty stiff taxes to help pay for the war effort. Included in these were things like luxury cars, boats, clothes and jewellery, Mr. Speaker. Over the years, those excise taxes have been removed on everything except jewellery. Now this excise tax costs us 10 percent of retail for any item over $3. It is hard to consider today, Mr. Speaker, that that can be considered a luxury tax. The information I have is that 50 percent of jewellery purchases are actually $100 and they are made by low and middle-income...

Okay. So does the policy read that the subsidy program is based on Yellowknife’s base rate or Yellowknife’s rate? What’s the rule of the day? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. I’m pleased to hear that in this forum. I’m going to be looking forward to that debate and the involvement to see what various communities and customers across the NWT have to say. Electricity is an essential service and it’s a very costly one, of course, in many of our communities. There is though also, I think, a very real requirement, along with some kind of a subsidy or cost redistribution mechanism, for a strong enough price on it, Mr. Chairman, to promote and stimulate conservation. This is going to be a really interesting discussion of this very essential service. Now...

Yes. I’ll get back.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a few areas that I would like to delve into here under the power subsidy issue. The program, as outlined here, suggests that the government is going to inject about $8.3 million into subsidizing electrical power that will largely go to individual households in the diesel powered communities, Mr. Chairman. A smaller amount goes to a commercial subsidy program. I would note, Mr. Chairman, that that is a projected increase of about $1.2 million from this current year. I’m sorry; it is the same as this current year, Mr. Chairman, but this current year is $1.2...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the intention, as outlined in the business plan to do this in the coming fiscal year, there’s a suggestion that we may need to back off from that timing.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Roland has reflected for this committee, Madam Chair, what we have heard in previous briefings. This is a major initiative and it is one that I look forward to a successful roll-out and a good implementation. It really will affect the calibre and the satisfaction and performance of our workforce. I place a really high significance and value on the work that’s being undertaken.

Now, I wanted to see if the Minister could give us some idea if we’re going to see more or less a status quo, roughly the same number of people continuing to be involved...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not expecting the Minister to speak for the Minister of Finance for Canada, but I’m wondering if he might be able to tell us from his perspective what are Canada’s or does the Department of Finance in Ottawa continue to have objections? I understand that that committee has twice heard recommendations to amend this act; it has twice refused. Why are they continuing to do so? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The need to replace this big piece of computer infrastructure has been demonstrated, at least to me. I know that has come up for probably the last three years in discussions of this department, so we're moving ahead on it. This current year, according to the information provided, we'll be spending about $183,000 on it. The department is asking for $500,000 this year, with the anticipation of spending $15 million over the next two years, for a total project cost of $15.7 million. That is a very large computer, Mr. Chairman.

A question that I wanted to ask; we're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Honourable Brendan Bell, the Minister of RWED and responsible for the GNWT’s diamond file. One estimate has it, Mr. Speaker, that some 200 people, including families, are involved in the sorting and cutting and polishing industry here in Yellowknife, using Canadian diamonds to make Canadian jewellery. But if you want to go and buy this, you have to pay 10 percent more than anywhere else in the world and that’s not really a very good situation. My question, Mr. Speaker, is has our government considered John Duncan’s private...