Bill Braden

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...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yesterday afternoon I was able to, in my Member’s statement, give a quick sense of where I felt this budget will take us and, after a day’s reflection and a good night’s sleep on it, I can certainly say that I feel better as an MLA in this Assembly this year or today looking forward, than I did a year ago.

The fiscal picture has become much more certain for us and, to our credit and our benefit, we are able to see the vast majority of our programs maintained. We are able to see finally, after years and years of being choked back, Madam Chair, our capital investment and...

Mr. Speaker, the Premier’s remarks are, of course, appropriate and encouraging, but I think there are things we need to do to move this along. The social agencies have been the ones who have been really at the plate trying to bring our attention to their concerns. What are we going to do to assist them in their drastically underfunded and under-resourced capacity to really be a player? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.