Statements in Debates
Good. I am pleased to see we are keeping the initiative. These are big pieces of work. We had expressed an intention at the beginning of our term as the Legislative Assembly to focus on this. I look forward to seeing progress on this in the coming year, Mr. Chairman. I certainly would like to avoid a traffic jam, if you will, as our term comes to a close. We have about two-and-a-half years left to make some of these changes, so let’s keep going.
Mr. Chairman, I have one other question. I believe it’s in this area, again, from the business plan. There is an objective to complete a review and...
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Further to our discussion about the liquor review which is about to really get started, by my understanding. The Minister had responded and given some of the areas that the review or act covers now and, of course, that would be contained in the review. Where I’d like to go with this question as well as in terms of the scope and how inclusive and how broad this investigation is going to go. One hundred sixty thousand dollars over two years is not a lot of money from my point of view, Madam Chair, related to the overall size of the impact of the Liquor Act. I’m wondering...
Mr. Chairman, I see this as all quite doable. I’m already on record as being a strong supporter of the new finance program as outlined so far by the Minister, and I certainly hope we do get Ottawa to see us through this. In the event that we don’t, has the department got a plan B? This debt wall is a serious matter. There’s no real question in my mind that it is going to be something that we will have to pay back. The rules are very straightforward, but I do like to know that we do have some backstop, if you will, if things don’t go the way we would like them to go at the right time. So...
Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Premier for taking the initiative to phone Premier McGuinty. That tells me that he's doing his job.
Where I wanted to follow through now is in the answer to a previous question. Mr. Speaker, the Premier said that we may need to take more drastic action. I wanted to ask what actions are available to us, or what courses of action are available to us to really ensure that we will stay on the radar screen and we will achieve a fair resource revenue sharing deal? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Premier’s correction. Indeed, it was not Prince Edward Island, but Nova Scotia that kind of also claimed that it has a brand new day. Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue following through with this. What we know to date, does this deal with these two provinces help the NWT’s case or could it, in fact, hurt us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. A brand new day, this is what Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is proclaiming today.
During the ceremonies that were held earlier today, Mr. Speaker, to sign a new resource deal between his province and Ottawa, Prince Edward Island was also involved in that same historic deal, Mr. Speaker. After weeks of contentious debate, this province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is going to get $2 billion. Over the next eight years, they are going to be able to keep every dollar of their potentially enormous wealth coming off of their offshore energy fields. Mr. Speaker...
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The other variance I would like to look into is also in the taxation area and it’s on the personal income tax side. We have a revised estimate for this current year of just over $56 million, Mr. Chairman. That’s going to drop to somewhere around $40 million next year and I am just wondering about that variance. It’s a considerable spread. In this case, a decrease in revenue and I am looking for an explanation there. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate committee going back to this to help sort out a few things. What I wanted to look at was some of the considerable variances in one area. In the corporate income tax for this current year, 2004-05, we opened the year with an expectation of $31.75 million in corporate income tax revenue. The revised estimates for the same year show us at some $46.33 million. That’s about a 50 percent increase within this current year in more corporate income tax. That’s a lot more revenue, Mr. Chairman. I am sure the Minister of Finance knows that. I wonder if we can get...
Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that page 3-10 is there for information only, but I do have a couple of questions on that.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That’s a good review and certainly looks after that one for me right now. Then, Madam Chair, we can look forward to a potential revision and renewal, a modernization of the way we manage liquor. In the meantime, Madam Chair, this department still continues the mandate to look after the liquor management and the way public awareness programs are implemented. There is in the business plan an outline of this mandate that the liquor licensing and enforcement areas and Liquor Commission encourage responsible use of alcohol through regulation, education of staff in licensed...