Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as a government, we have looked at the requirements that we are going to need as we go forward in coming up with the funding levels that are required by departments to either continue with their level of services or try to enhance them, especially when we look at the economy that we have. A heated economy is one that is good, that helps with employment and business and so on. There is also the other side of it where there is an increased cost to provide services, whether it is just normal day-to-day services in the community or the negative side when...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the area of the Liquor Act, I guess is not an absolutely new issue. This is something that’s been looked at for awhile as being a concern to the government, as well as members in other organizations, because of the impact of alcohol and alcohol abuse in the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, we have a lot of statistics that show that we’re one of the jurisdictions with the highest consumption rates. That impacts on our ability to deliver services and provide services to residents. It’s something that is of concern.

We’ve been looking at this initiative...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the capital planning process falls within the responsibility of the Financial Management Board Secretariat. I can commit to the Member that we will, as we go through that secretariat’s budget, be able to get into more detail around that area, the process and so on. Just for the record at this point, there are a number of areas, if it is building maintenance and so on, that will fall into other areas of the budget on the O and M side more than it would the capital planning process. I understand where the Member is coming from and I am to be prepared to sort...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing is a federal initiative and they’re working on the terms of reference. There’s also another panel that’s being worked on by the Council of the Federation, that being the Premiers of all provinces and territories. They’re looking at another aspect of the fiscal imbalance, both vertical and horizontal. It’s somewhat different than the work that’s being undertaken by the federal equalization panel as it gets up and going. There are a couple of initiatives that are happening and are beginning to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my right I have the deputy minister, Margaret Melhorn, and to my left I have Mr. Mel Enge, the director of finance and administration.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe within treasury is the area that we work on the taxation side. Total for the taxation side, I believe that we have 6 people who would work in that area. Two specifically to do with the payroll tax. Seven -- I’m actually corrected on that -- seven people work in that treasury branch that work on the taxation side; two specific to payroll tax. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present the Department of Finance's main estimates for the fiscal year 2005-2006.

The Department of Finance, through its responsibilities for revenue generation and management, and information gathering and distribution, plays an important role in ensuring the government is able to deliver its programs and to make informed decisions.

For 2005-06, the Department of Finance has identified a total expenditure budget of $7.9 million, or 7.4 percent more than in the 2004-05 main estimates. The increase is composed of:

$530,000 for increased insurance costs resulting...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, it’s a process that they’ve used and in our situation we would consider it, as probably every other jurisdiction, an improved estimation of where the corporate income tax would be for the fiscal year we would be in. Again, as the numbers become solidified as we actually get to count the returns that have been filed and so on, there could be further adjustments, but this is based on estimations that are made using the new way the federal government is doing it, which has changed our revised estimates. We are hoping that it continues to go forward. The...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the area of the payroll tax, we work with at least one other organization and that is the one that would register companies. We work with the WCB to see how many employers there are in the Northwest Territories, because that is who registers companies.

The Member has also touched on a couple of cases. We have had a number of scenarios that have developed in the North around the collection of taxes overall. There was a case that was going before the courts around the jurisdiction of taxation with governments in general; not just the Government of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled GNWT Business Plans, 2005-2008. Thank you.