Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to work with the region and I will ensure that my department knows that this is of highest priority. I could take the Member through our understanding of the timeline and the various steps and the correspondence back and forth and the discussions between our department and the consortium. I don’t know if that would be helpful. That’s my perspective, standing here today. Clearly, from the Member’s line of questioning, that would not be shared by Chief Norwegian and by the consortium. So I’m willing to sit down and discuss this with the Member. I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to assure the Member that the department is supportive of initiatives like this. The Member knows that we did fund $20,000 to the consortium of six bands who were looking at purchasing both Wolverine and Simpson Air and amalgamating and creating Nahendeh Air. There was $20,000 a couple of years ago to develop business planning. Our suggestion is that the next steps need to be an application, probably to us, for funding to further review this proposal and add some detail to it. We think there needs to be some refinement of detail; we’ve had that discussion...

Despite continued lobbying from the Canadian Jewellery Association over the past four years by this government, my predecessors have written numerous letters to the federal government and they have not conceded at this point. It is our understanding that this was potentially coming out a couple of budgets ago and didn’t make the final cut. We were very disappointed by that. We’re hopeful that we can move this agenda forward and we think the National Diamond Strategy might be the vehicle that can bring together all of the interests of both industry and the provinces and bring the adequate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The short answer is yes, we have and, yes, we are supportive. I think we’ve had some discussion around this with committee. I believe the Member would be aware that I’ve written Finance Minister Goodale and essentially expressed our sentiment that this, indeed, as the Member has put it, this tax should be axed. It has been around since 1918 and is the last luxury excise tax on the books. We don’t think it makes sense. The entire industry doesn’t think it makes sense. It has been one of the tenants of the National Diamond Strategy. The Retailers Jewellery Working...

I can give the Member and the consortium that assurance here today. We think that this is an absolutely perfect way for the region to be able to take care of some of the business opportunities that are going to come their way. Lots of activity will be forthcoming because of the development in the regions, and it would be an absolute shame to see that business go to southern businesses. I’m also aware of the Member’s recent request for some help in order to further cement an expression of interest with one of the proponents. We had hoped that the business proposal would be finalized, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can think of no jurisdiction that would not be in favour of doing away with this tax. Obviously the federal government is the concern here at this point. The Member indicated the amount of potential revenue loss to the federal government. We think that would be more than offset by the creation of jobs and potentially by the people who don’t report coming back from other countries and don’t submit the taxes that are lost to the federal government. So industry is behind doing away with this, and all of the provinces and territories are. It is a matter of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is a significant amount of detail that the Member is looking for. I will certainly provide that in writing in follow-up. Off the top of my head, the suggestion would be that, internationally, I think we have two diamond consultants who provide us with intelligence and also do some evaluation work for us and administer our certification program which is, as the Member knows, very important to the government. One is located in Israel, the other in Antwerp; and somewhere in the neighbourhood of $200,000 a year U.S. would be my best guess. I will get detailed...

Thank you. One of the difficulties, obviously, with diamond pricing is that it is not as other commodities that are traded on an open system where you can see the actual value of product very easily. There have been some suggestions by the local industry that they believe they may be charged more than what customers in Antwerp are charged. We really have no way of knowing. The prices charged in Antwerp are commercial deals between site holders and the producers. They are confidential. We have no way to compare those prices to the prices that our local industry is being charged here. I...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled A Management Plan for the Bathurst Caribou Herd. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Members of the House heard late last week the Finance Minister indicate that we had to take stock of our government’s role in supporting the secondary industry, and make some determinations around how we can be most effective as a government to bolster the industry and to support every aspect of the industry. We aim to have that discussion and that analysis going forward. Obviously, we have had the immediate issues of the two factories to deal with here over the summer, into the fall and into the winter. So we have been working through that. But we will...