Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the process is set up now we would do further internal work and then I would present my Cabinet colleagues with information to see if, in fact, that is the right course we’re heading on, and from their input either go back to the drawing board or make some changes. If once accepted by Cabinet it’s good enough to go to the next stage, then we would go to the Members of the Assembly through the committee process to have their input if we’ve got it right in the legislative proposal process. Then it kicks off, as the Member is aware, through that process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an area that we’re beginning to do some work on to look at what options of a fiscal responsibility legislation that we could bring forward for Members. That’s why it’s worded as it is. We need to work with the Members to see what would be acceptable. Things, for example, like what the actual interest bite is -- as the terminology that's used -- or repayment of a debt would be highlighted in the budget, what type of debt that we could actually incur. One of the concerns we have is with our structural deficit that we find ourselves in is not to get...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. We’ve told departments that there will be a 25 percent reduction for the upcoming year on discretionary travel. Non-discretionary travel such as medical travel, student financial assistance, those things, court appearances, court duty travel, have not been touched. So it’s been discretionary travel. Those are difficult to follow through the business plans. Members will have the opportunity when each department comes forward to get specific details from them and we’ll inform departments that they should be ready with that information. We could try...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there have been past initiatives that were tried by previous governments to enhance building in market communities that were being impacted by increased resource development. We find after a while, though, that those initiatives get adjusted to by the market and get incorporated. I speak specifically of past governments who instituted a program of giving $10,000 additional to potential purchasers so that they could afford their new homes. We found that any subsidy that we have like that soon gets swallowed up by the system and just drives up the prices...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a requirement that they would have to pay some portion of their taxes, depending on the size of their operation and jurisdiction. Now, the other type of income that can be filed or earnings filed would be on investment income, and that doesn’t need a location or an office. They could have a small operation, an employee, a storefront operation that they could file, but that is on investment income. On the actual corporate tax side where the main earnings that we receive would require a certain portion, again, would break out the amount of operation they had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The initial amount when we had filings, one-time filings in the Northwest Territories, large filings that caused some of our problems, was 14 percent. Following that there was another amount, I believe 12 percent, but as we know now the rebasing effort that is going to be done through the federal formula financing agreement would cause us to go back into what we would call a perversity factor where we would lose more money than we would gain if we did not change our tax effort. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for the Deh Cho, that Bill 1, Appropriation Act, 2004-2005, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make operations expenditures and capital investment expenditures for the 2004-05 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Some say that will be the last time I get applause in the House.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, before I get into the formal budget address, I would just like to inform the House of the footwear I have brought into this Assembly. It’s a pair of slippers, Mr. Speaker. They aren’t brand new. They are 17 years old, or pieces of them are 17 years old. It was a gift I had given to me from my sister made by a Gwich’in elder in Inuvik, Elizabeth Greenland, as a wedding gift. The upper bead portion is the original. The inside fur is part of the original slippers. The rest are hand...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to proceed with first reading of Bill 1, Appropriation Act, 2004-2005. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, March 19, 2004, I will move that Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.