Floyd Roland

Mr. Speaker, again, as we begin laying out the plan we have for the 16th Assembly, targeting areas where we want reinvestment, areas that we want to re-prioritize, those activities will occur. Ministers who make commitments need to align their commitments with that plan. I would say if Ministers are making commitments that don’t fit with that plan, they’re going to have to justify to this House and Members why that commitment was made and not honoured.

One of the initiatives was looking at refocusing government — lead Minister was Mr. Miltenberger in that area. That is already a part of the equation to be reviewed.

One of the things we’re operating by as the 16th Legislative Assembly, and the work we’re doing around the financial aspects and looking for reinvestments and savings, is we align with the goals we’ve set. One of our goals is sustainable, vibrant, safe communities. What we would look at in general is…. Vacant positions would be an easier process, but we still have to go back and align with the initiatives we’re trying to establish as the 16th Assembly. When we focus on those initiatives, if there are vacant positions that align themselves with that and help us deliver those programs, they...

I believe I said that as a government, we are looking at our tax options — those that we have on the books as well as those that would require a legislative initiative if brought back to this Assembly.

As we know from past practice, when governments make adjustments, even adjustments with existing legislation, it can have a lag time of at least a year to two years before you actually start to see the net results of any change — in some cases, sooner.

For example, one of the avenues my past government practised was to raise the corporate tax. It didn’t take very long for corporations — and even...

I'm aware that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has, in fact, looked at the specific piece and has reviewed a draft, so that work is underway. They would be prepared, once they’ve come up with a draft, to sit down with Committee at the appropriate time.

The January 31 date is a date where it would have been a go–no go on the concession agreement if the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation hadn't met the requirements. They informed us by letters, and showing letters from the bank that holds the…. We would, for example, have to initiate the loan guarantee on our part. They have provided letters from their lenders that the money will flow after the lawyers dot the i’s and cross the t’s.

For our piece, the January 31 date was for meeting the requirements in the concession agreement — that is, their equity portion — and having the lenders signed on, on this.

We are doing our work on the business plan, and we have highlighted that we want to support the volunteer sector. That would allow for some of the discussion to happen, to see where we may improve on some of our initiatives, as well as recognize that we are one of the most generous jurisdictions when it comes to employees and what we allow for taking time off from work to provide service to the volunteer sector.

Mr. Speaker, we have not asked for an opinion in that area. I would again, looking at the file and seeing where we are at…. We made an assumption. Looking at the contract, a concession agreement has been agreed to and the builder has been offered a guaranteed price. If we were to back out now, in my opinion — I shouldn’t offer that, I guess, as I am not a lawyer, thankfully; stick to the business I do know — we would be challenged. We’d have to look at that.

We do value the volunteers who provide much input into a lot of our communities. In fact, that’s why we have, through agreements with the unions, a number of initiatives that provide for employees to take part in volunteer initiatives throughout the Territory.

I would have a difficult time looking at that specific issue. We need to look at the whole way we provide and support the volunteer sector, and one of the examples is the through our established civic leave process.

What was raised yesterday was about trying to look at other ways we can do that. The Member is correct: I myself would not be able to touch base with all of my employees, but I would pursue that through our departments. We need to seek those that are directly involved.

I recall even from my own days as a public servant in the Government of the N.W.T. that you see things at a community level that you know can be addressed, and there can be some savings identified. We should not turn a blind eye to those that are on the front-line and who might have some ideas for us. We’ll look at ways of trying...