David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, I don’t disagree with the Premier. Obviously, we need to do something. If they are moving forward with this, that is good. I just think it would be nice to know on this side of the House, especially with what I have seen and heard. It’s a billion dollar cost shared infrastructure agreement with the federal government.

Maybe I could ask the Premier this question: where is the $500 million coming from in the Government of Northwest Territories to cost share with the federal government’s $500 million?

I appreciate the challenge that the government finds itself in, and I know the pressures on our infrastructure and the need for more money. You can’t debate that. But the fact remains there was an impasse. The government has put a new proposal on the table to the federal government without first consulting the Regular Members of this House — duly elected Members — and I’ve heard from other Members that perhaps aboriginal governments across the Northwest Territories weren’t consulted on this either.

So, again, let’s be up front with each other. Let’s put the deal on the table before we take it...

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to take this time to recognize a friend of mine, Everett McQueen, and his two lovely daughters he has with him, Wynter and Montana. Welcome.

I think part of the problem, from what I understand, in the past and the impasse that was there had to do with this fiscal capacity cap.

I’d like to ask the Premier: is the impasse that’s currently at play the capacity cap, or is it this new proposal the Government of the Northwest Territories has put on the table?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier today. It gets back to my Member’s statement where I was talking about this new proposal the Government of the Northwest Territories put forward to the federal government that was in addition to the devolution and resource revenue sharing negotiations that were ongoing.

Everybody knows that the Government of the Northwest Territories has been trying to get a deal with the federal government for the past 20 years. This may or may not be a good proposal that the government has put forward, but all of a sudden, to plop a massive — and the...

Just for discussion purposes I’d like to ask the Minister today if his government, the government here, would take a look at regulating gas prices and home heating fuel prices here in the Northwest Territories. At least let’s look at it. Let’s put everything on the table, the pros and cons. I think our residents need that stability in pricing and not the volatility that they’ve been experiencing lately.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve lived in Yellowknife for almost 29 years, and I don’t really recall there being any difference in prices at the pump for any extended period of time whatsoever in that 29 years, and I’ve been driving since I was 18.

Again, I want to ask the Minister: will the Government of the Northwest Territories engage the federal Competition Bureau to launch an investigation into fuel pricing in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that. I’m familiar with the Yellowknife market. If you look at the retailers here in Yellowknife, everybody seems to have the same price, which would lead me to believe that there’s some type of price fixing going on.

Like I said, there is no corresponding decrease at the pump or at the fuel truck when world oil prices come down, like there is in southern Canada. I do believe that there should be an investigation. I do believe that the consumer protection division at MACA should work with the federal Competition Bureau and look at this, have an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal Competition Bureau should be consulted, and I’d like to see an investigation conducted here in the Northwest Territories market communities. Does it really cost 30 cents a litre to transport fuel from Edmonton? The scary thing for residents here in the North Slave region is that we’re building a $170 million bridge that we don’t need with money we don’t have, only to charge tolls and make goods like fuel more expensive for residents here in the North Slave. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that.

Another question that I do have — and it’s an issue that I’ve raised in the House — gets back to home heating fuel and the fact that the Government of Canada charges GST on home heating fuel. There’s an election going on right now, and I do believe that the Government of the Northwest Territories has to be working with their counterparts in Nunavut and the Yukon Territory to make the federal government understand that charging GST on home heating fuel in northern Canada is the wrong thing to do and that they should stop that practice immediately. That...