Floyd Roland

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there would be times when we look at the market and the price would either be in a general increase and that would be the time we would look at using this tool to buy fuel or gasoline on future markets, so that if we look at the trend, the trend would show it’s going up. If our re-supply is happening in, say, six months’ time and the price seems to be going up, we can make a decision to buy at that price for that future time to be delivered. At the same time, we could see the trend would either be levelled off or maybe going down, we would say let’s not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The particulars that we are working on, the gas tax situation, that is certain. The $4 million that comes from the Northern Strategy trust is certain. The $100 million amount that we were talking about over the next couple of years from federal Housing, Bill C-48, has been through Parliament but it did not make it through Treasury Board. So that is the one that we have highlighted as an issue that we need to get the federal government to make a serious commitment on and see where they are going to go with that. The $100 million is over three years. It’s tied to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the guidelines for using this instrument would be worked through the Financial Management Board and developed with them to get this in place. So it would be a new set of guidelines for this instrument to work. There’s been some work done on it, but we’d have to get approval through the FMB.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I announced back in our last sitting, the corporate tax situation we faced, we went from projecting a surplus of about $40 million down to where we are identifying now…In fact, at one time we predicted we would go into a slight deficit position. But because of adjusting our budget, we’ve managed to stay out of that area. But the immediate impact of our higher tax rates and the fiscal arrangements we have in Ottawa right now is that companies have started to move their file to other jurisdictions. In fact, as well, our estimates of companies paying...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know that in the upcoming fiscal year, the year we’ve announced, July 1st, in that fiscal year, it is in abeyance. It’s a three-year agreement that could go to five years, as some of the indications that we’ve received. Ultimately, if a new arrangement is made with Ottawa and federal Finance about the fiscal arrangements in place or that will be put in place as a result of the expert panel report and the Council of Federation work, we’ll have some discussions about that risk and reward sides. Right now it is punitive. If it were to come back with the existing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think again as we go through the budget process and lay out the details of that budget in each department, we’ll be able to show what we can deal with with the tools we have right now. That is one of our concerns, we need more resources to be able to deal with those things and ultimately that will be through a better fiscal arrangement with Ottawa and a royalty revenue sharing agreement that would see a net fiscal benefit to the Northwest Territories, which then we can take those funds and share with the rest of the people in the territory. If this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think our goal, first and foremost, is to have the federal government remove the debt limit that they have placed on us. That would be the first goal and we would have to work hard to achieve that. We have one year to make that happen, because we’ll still be in government and still be in control of the purse strings as we start into the year 2007. As things sit right now, if we look that far down the road, we’ll have no room for a borrowing limit at that point. So we have to make some decisions and this is what’s going to change our approach, is how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there are a number of avenues that have opened up to us through the election process that we’ve just gone through across Canada with the Prime Minister-designate making it very clear that the fiscal imbalance issue needs to be direct -- repaired, I guess, is a simple way of putting it -- in fact, as well, in saying that he sees us in the North as being the ones that gain from the development of the North. So I think those are areas we need to work together on from the North and come up with a unified message, and I’m sure the Premier, as he meets...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 18, Appropriation Act, 2006-2007, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make operation expenditures and capital investment expenditures for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. Thank you.