David Ramsay

They should be demanding that the federal government transfer the jobs pertaining to northern development to the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. As I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, people equal money. If we continue on the track we’re on right now, we won’t have anyone left to tax, because everyone is going to be gone. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome back to my colleagues. I am excited to be back in the House speaking about the issues that are important both to my constituents and the residents of the Northwest Territories.

I have spoken in the past in this House about the 3,300 migrant workers and the $330 million that leaves with them every year — a place where the government should be doing everything in its power to persuade these workers to live in the Northwest Territories. Not only do we need to attract workers here, but we must ensure that the people who are here are going to stay here. That the...

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Minister of Finance, but I think if we’re going to have an overall view of everything, we need to have all of our cards on the table. Until the government goes out and does the analysis of our spending government-wide, we won’t be able to do that. Today we don’t know the value of the dollars we are spending. That type of analysis hasn’t been done. Until it’s done, I’m not sure what we’re going to gain by going through this process, or any other process for that matter, budget to budget, unless we get a handle on where we’re spending our money and how effective...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue with some questions for the Minister of Finance. It’s easy to be critical, but I think sometimes you also have to offer some suggestions. I’d like to ask the Minister if the government has ever entertained what it would mean to our population if we did away with the personal income tax here in the Northwest Territories. Instead of increasing it, what if we did away with it? What would that mean, and would they be able to deliver that type of analysis for our consideration?

Mr. Speaker, the next question I have for the Minister of Finance is: of the $135 million that was proposed to be reduced over two years, exactly where is the government in terms of finding that $135 million today?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act, be read for the third time.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know yesterday we had a bit of a go-between with the Minister talking about amendments to the Maintenance Enforcement Act. Part of supporting a motion like this, again, gets back to the children. I believe strongly that both parents should be involved in the upbringing of a child.

If you look around the world, the movement is going to a default system of equal, shared parenting so that both parents in separation and divorce have equal access to children. To me, that’s a fundamental right. I believe many rights in this country, Canada…. We call ourselves a...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be brief. The motion speaks for itself greatly. I agree with my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen on this. I think what needs to happen is we need to have a look at the BIP, and we don't need to reinvent the wheel. It has been, as Members have mentioned, reviewed numerous times over the years.

What needs to happen is that we need to focus our attention on truly northern businesses — businesses that contribute to the economy in the Northwest Territories. We can’t allow companies to be registered with a Business Incentive Policy where a guy is walking around the...

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with the Minister and the department on developing the strategy and reviewing the policies that are out there.

Yes, we are third in the world in terms of production. I was a city councillor here in Yellowknife in the late ’90s, when the gold mining was falling out and the diamond mines came in. Diamond mining does add a tremendous amount to the economy here in the Northwest Territories. We can’t underestimate that, but I do believe we should be getting and receiving more. The federal government doesn’t want to come to the plate in terms of resource-revenue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of ITI. It gets back to my Member’s statement where I spoke of the fact we have had diamond mining in the Northwest Territories now for over ten years. I feel it’s long overdue that we take a look at our policy, our objectives and a strategy to deal with diamond mining in the Northwest Territories. As we see other jurisdictions across the country — Saskatchewan, Ontario and perhaps Quebec — developing potential diamond mines, there’s a great risk that these other jurisdictions are going to pass us by.

The first question I’d have...