David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Premier. We had the opportunity last Sunday to meet with the Senate committee on natural resources. They’re travelling through the North. They’re going to be here in Yellowknife, Norman Wells, Inuvik and, I believe, up in Tuk.

We had an opportunity, along with my colleagues Mr. Bromley and Mr. Menicoche.... The issues that they touched on were very informative. They talked about global warming; they talked about devolution; they talked about resource development.

One thing they really seemed to have a lot of questions on was devolution and...

Okay, we can turn to page 6-7, Operations Expenditure Summary. We’ll defer that till later. The first page up is page 6-8, information item, Active Positions. Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, again, I believe we do from time to time have to look at the different policies and procedures we have in place. If they’re not working, let’s tinker with them and try to make them work. But let’s not totally eliminate programs and services because they may not be meeting our objectives. At the end of the day the goal is to build capacity. We are having some major problems out there, especially at the community levels and even in regard to the regional levels, where you only have one major contractor in the Northwest Territories. I think we have to do a better job of inviting...

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for the Subcommittee on Infrastructure, Mr. Michael McLeod. It’s in relation to my statement earlier with regard to the Business Incentive Policy. More importantly, we have these policies, and we have the ability as Northerners to receive preferential treatment on different types of contracts in the North and also to be exempt from certain federal and national implications such as free trade. There is also the trade agreement between the provinces and arrangements in land-claim agreements. I think as government we have to...

At this time I’d like to ask the Minister of Health to introduce her witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to speak to the statement made by the Minister of ITI yesterday, and it’s more in line with the Business Incentive Policy that has been established since 1984.

A lot has happened since then in the Northwest Territories and in North America. More apparent is the North American Free Trade Agreement — better known as NAFTA — which was negotiated between Canada and the United States in regard to free trade. Also, as part of that agreement there were exemptions allowed for jurisdictions in Canada that would have been grandfathered — programs we’ve...

Next on my list I have Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Abernethy and Mr. Jacobson. Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, one thing I didn’t see in the Premier’s comment is the whole area around the trading of carbon tax. We know Ontario and Quebec are looking at something. With the global warming effects we have in the Northwest Territories, you’d think that issue would be top and centre for the Northwest Territories. I’d just like to ask the Premier: exactly where are we in regard to the carbon tax issue? Also, what is the position of the Northwest Territories?

I’m wondering, does the corporation — and we do have a committee of Ministers who deal with the homelessness issue — have a comprehensive policy or procedure in place to deal with homelessness in small communities? When we know there are ways that we can accommodate where we may not have….

Excuse me, Mr. Hawkins. I’m asking a question of the Minister. Did you get it, Mr. Minister?