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...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe it’s in the Minister’s opening remarks that he addressed the review of the NWT Liquor Act, which we’re now engaged in over a two-year program, which will have a budget of $160,000 attached to it. Again, I would reiterate my support and my approval of reviewing this really critical piece of legislation. From my perspective, Mr. Chairman, it is far more important that we delve into this from the perspective of liquor’s impact on our society and the social consequences of it more so than the fiscal business side of it. But to the review that we’re engaging...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ve got a couple of areas that I would like to explore. One of them is the ongoing challenge that we have to manage our debt and the plan that’s been outlined in some detail on restructuring our whole financial management situation. The other area concerns the Department of Finance’s jurisdiction over our liquor system.

Mr. Chairman, the business plans for 2005-08 and the budget document that the Minister presented last Thursday outlined a little bit of a scary situation for us on our overall debt situation. Everyone, of course, Mr. Chairman, is familiar with the...

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I do know -- and it's Valentine's Day so my heart is with the Premier and with the Prime Minister, too -- their promise is to see a deal that is going to mean net fiscal benefit. I've heard this from the Premier, I've heard this personally from the Prime Minister, that is where I want to go. But, Mr. Speaker, with suddenly these new demands coming from the provinces, there are many more provinces and they're a lot bigger than we are. While we have this understanding with the Prime Minister, do we also have this understanding with the provinces and are they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are to the Premier, and they relate to the amazing deal that was signed earlier today with two of the Maritime provinces on their resource sharing deals. I wanted to ask, Mr. Speaker, just what parallels are there between the deals that Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have and the deal that we are seeking with Ottawa for our resources? Where are the similarities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.