Bob McLeod

The Member is suggesting that there is conspiracy behind every door, but that’s certainly not the case. The Intergovernmental Council, as we’ve laid out, will take a lead on legislative and policy matters related to land that they identify. These are issues that the Aboriginal governments feel are important for them to understand may emanate from their land claim agreements, because in order to be part of the Intergovernmental Council you have to be recognized as an Aboriginal government and to be an Aboriginal government you have to have a land claim or be negotiating at a land claim table.

So...

We have those community liaison officers for that exact purpose, to help people in the communities access benefits that they are entitled to, and we would work with the federal government to make sure that if it is extended that they be provided with the requisite information so that they can assist those former residential school students that would like to take advantage and benefit from these personal credits so that they can maximize their healing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too have IRS personal credits that I have not had the opportunity to use up, so I would be pleased to call on the federal Minister to extend the time period so that we can maximize the healing required for some residential school students.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we explained the rationale behind the $20 million it was so our clients and every community in the Northwest Territories wouldn’t have to pay an extra 13.7 percent increase in power for two years.

At the same time, we announced that we are holding an Energy Charrette on November 3rd and 4th. We’re committed to investing millions of dollars so that we can look at alternative and renewable forms of energy and any ways that we can empower the clientele that use energy in the North so that they can find cheaper ways to generate power. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government is doing a tremendous amount to reduce the cost of living. We subsidize the cost of living to the tune of about $200 million a year. We are organizing an Energy Charrette to give more personal responsibility to the people so that they can become more independent through energy generation, and we are also investing in infrastructure as we find that’s the best way to reduce the cost of living. Thank you.

I think there’s a country song called “The Cold Hard Facts of Life.”

---Laughter

I think when you compare Yellowknife to Deline or Ulukhaktok or any other community, it’s obvious there's the cost of transportation, the fact that there’s competition in Yellowknife so that keeps the prices down, and also in the small communities the businesses pay the fully burdened cost of energy. They have to pass that on to the consumer.

As a government, as I said, we spend about $200 million subsidizing the cost of living. We have done studies that show in communities like Sachs Harbour, even though you make...

That’s still a very good and important document. We will spend the money that we’ve outlined in that document over the next three years and I think it will benefit us all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are still in the process of finalizing attendance and we’ll give him the proper accounting in due course. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is our objective and we want to get more money in Northerners’ pockets. We’re always being very vigilant in this area as well as looking in other areas such as reducing energy costs, so the Energy Charrette, we expect, will go a long ways to that end as well.

The tax collection agreement between the Northwest Territories and Canada requires that both jurisdictions use the same definition of taxable income. A northern resident deduction increase would reduce federal and territorial personal income tax revenue. In our forensic review, the 2008 increase in the northern resident deduction raised the maximum deduction to $6,022.50. At the highest combined federal and territorial tax rate of 43.5 percent, the $547.50 increase would provide annual savings of $235 for tax filers claiming the maximum $6,022.50. The Government of the Northwest Territories’...