Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee would like to deal with the three supplementary appropriation bills that were tabled by the Minister of Finance today. Thank you.

We read in last week’s Hub, I guess, that this has become a problem or has been identified as a problem in certain buildings in Hay River, as well. Unfortunately, it started off in Yellowknife. It seems they seem to have migrated from Yellowknife outwards. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what the point of contact is in our communities for finding out what we can do. Where is the information? Where is the awareness? Where can people access the support that he speaks of?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we were children and our parents put us to bed and said, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite,” I didn’t know there was such a thing as bedbugs. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

We’ve heard media reports and we’ve had a press conference held by the former Minister of Health and Social Services about the fact that bedbugs have now arrived in the Northwest Territories. This is a serious and costly problem. I have heard of apartment buildings, I have heard of people in public housing here in Yellowknife. It’s so insidious you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2011 National Student Debating Seminar of the Canadian Student Debating Federation is taking place in Hay River from March 9th to 13th. There are 78 delegates participating in formal debates representing 10 provinces, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. This is considered to be one of their largest debates and it is the first of its kind to take place in the North since 1975.

The participating delegates are accomplished students chosen by provincial and territorial debating organizations through a competitive process. The seminar theme has been appropriately...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent, Sophie Call, who is accompanying our group of young debaters today.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister suggests that this is something that could be noted in a transitional document to the 17th Assembly. Is this something that the Program Review Office could take a look at to see if there is some other source of this much revenue that we do not have to take from our residents? Thank you.

Let me ask myself another question now.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, the payroll tax, the rationale for it was understood when it was put in place in 1993 in that we had a lot of people that were beginning to work in the Northwest Territories who did not reside here. I know the federal government doesn’t want to hear us say this because there’s supposed to be free access and mobility within Canada. They don’t want to hear us say that we did it to tax fly-in/fly-out workers, but that was the rationale for it. As I said, with the rebates that were in place at the time under our tax system it was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members of this House are aware, the NWT has had a payroll tax in place since 1993, before I became a Member. It happened before my time.

The tax was originally brought in because so many non-resident workers were flying in and out of the Territory on a regular basis and benefitting from our job opportunities, government programs and services, and public infrastructure without contributing to our tax base. A tax credit was brought in at the same time to partially offset the payroll tax for NWT resident workers.

In 2005 the payroll tax increased from 1 percent to 2...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The wish of committee is to deal with Bills 1 and 2.

It’s coming, yes. Sorry. I’d like to ask the Minister, can we revert to the 1 percent tax and what would that cost this government. Thank you.