Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have to look at the existing cost of providing that level of service in the Northwest Territories with the existing contract in place. Ultimately, if the department is to continue this, we would have to look at other areas where we can come up with our savings or with additional money to continue this. That will have an effect on how we proceed with this as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I had stated earlier, I have signed off a letter going to the parties involved and urging them to get back to the negotiations. I can’t give a commitment in this House, as right now we are monitoring the situation hoping that a successful conclusion can be reached. So giving a timeline at this point is not something that I can commit to. Just for the record, as we have looked at the situation, I don’t believe it is a lockout. It is an arrangement that the employer has made with his existing workload. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our process for dealing with patients who cannot receive care in Canada is one that’s laid out. It’s used by other jurisdictions as well. In this case there are programs available in Canada that can be accessed and I’m not willing to go into a blow-by-blow scenario of what’s been done in this specific case. Much has been done and we will continue to work with this case to try and bring some conclusion to it. But, as Minister, I will not intervene and direct our medical staff to send individuals to different countries and so on. I will still be using the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 7, Pharmacy Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we already follow a similar pattern and process that other jurisdictions do. If a service is not available in our jurisdiction in the Northwest Territories, then we would set up a process where an individual can receive those services out of our jurisdiction. The majority of patients that move from the Territories, if we can’t provide a service, would go through Alberta, sometimes into B.C. or other jurisdictions. As well, if there are not services available in Canada we would look at providing that service outside of Canada and being covered by our health...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we've looked at this from our records, as Ms. Melhorn has pointed out, of potential loss to ourselves. We haven't done a projection on the possibilities of receiving more revenue. We're hoping that by doing this that in fact we will see some growth in this area; just the fact that we've made our program much more easier to understand and beneficial to individuals who would receive that in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department continues to do its best to provide a level of service for people who are in this area. It is very difficult for families who have to work with their own family members as well as adapting our existing resources to try and help out where we can and we will continue to do that within our existing resources to try and help those families who find themselves in this situation, as well as continue to work cooperatively with the YACCS group to try and come up with a solution that can hopefully meet the needs as we move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, joining me at the witness table here to my right is the deputy minister of the Department of Finance, Ms. Margaret Melhorn; to my far left is Mr. Gerry Gagnon, manager of tax policy; and we have Rebecca Veinott, legislative counsel, Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as our process works, each department would put forward its capital plan and then it goes through a capital planning process which meets with seniors' capital planning committee, then through the deputy ministers and then forwarded to the FMB and Cabinet for a decision to build the business plan and present the Members in this House. The department has included it as an important facility. It did not make the cut through the process, so we’ll have to go back to the phase and put it back in. It remains a priority for this government. Ultimately it comes down...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act. This bill will increase the dividend tax credit on dividends received from large corporations, effective the 2006 tax year.

Dividends paid by public corporations and large Canadian-controlled private corporations have incurred double taxation under the existing federal and NWT Income Tax Acts. The higher dividend tax credit will reduce the personal taxes individuals pay on taxable dividends.

The proposed change will parallel measures announced in the May 2006 federal budget, which were introduced...