Statements in Debates
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I look forward to seeing the results of that. Of course, what elders and biologists alike say is that we need to permanently protect key habitat for barren-ground and boreal caribou as part of a balanced program. With low levels of activity and interest, we have got things like land use planning, but we also need other forms of permanent land withdrawals or protection. Can the Minister tell us what our government is doing with regard to permanent protection of key habitat for the Bathurst caribou herd? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks. I think that was a little more helpful. Look, I'm not suggesting that there has to be public hearings and all of that. For the actual time change, yes, there would obviously be notice, but I would expect that there would be notice or at least an opportunity for the public to express their views about whether we should change to Daylight Saving Time, be consistent with Alberta if they make that change, that kind of thing. I am not expecting a big road show, but to say that there's just going to be an email address, I don't think that quite cuts it in terms of public engagement. I'm not...
I want to thank the Minister for his Minister's statement there. No. Look, I do appreciate the work that he and his staff are doing on this. I just wish it was a little bit faster. I described some of the actions and tools that are supposed to be taking place as part of the implementation of the Bathurst caribou range plan, and the Minister himself mentioned the cumulative land disturbance framework. Can the Minister tell us whether this framework has been applied against the proposed Slave Geological Province road, and if so, can he share that analysis with MLAs and the public?
Thanks, Madam Chair. I just wanted to say that, in the last Assembly, there was a petition on changing the time, and there was some support for it. I don't think it was overwhelming, but the whole matter was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development in the last Assembly, and they did some work on this issue. At the end of the day, their recommendation was that we keep ourselves on Daylight Saving Time so that we would be in sync with Alberta. The bill, though, that we got from Cabinet did not really do that. It gave Cabinet a blank cheque to change time zones, get rid of...
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to say it's a pretty hard act to follow the last couple of statements there. In August 2019, Cabinet finally approved the long-awaited Bathurst Caribou Range Plan. That plan calls for a variety of actions, including a cumulative land disturbance framework, community guardianship, habitat conservation, mobile caribou conservation measures, road planning and management, offsetting compensatory mechanisms, wildfire and fuels management, and online map staking.
It appears much of GNWT's efforts at trying to assist with the recovery of the Bathurst caribou herd...
Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate the responses from the Minister. I am about tax fairness, and I just want to give the Minister a couple of ways in which she could raise $1.4 million for the public record. She could actually keep the rental fees that are in the current exploration licence for Husky Energy and carry those over into the significant discovery licence and raise $1.4 million a year. That's one option; she doesn't really have to do very much on that one.
The other one is, and I've said this before, we're one of the few jurisdictions in Canada that only has three personal income tax...
Thanks, Madam Chair. I do appreciate that. Is the Minister willing to share some of that kind of analysis that she talked about? In the past, there have been revenue options papers generated by Finance Ministers. Is the Minister willing to make public perhaps an updated version of a tax options paper, or a revenue options paper, in preparation for the next budget? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Are there any plans, then, to make up this lost revenue somewhere else in the tax system? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I don't have any difficulty with the administrative changes here for the most part. I am concerned about the reduction in the small business tax rate. Can the Minister tell me why we are doing this? Thanks, Madam Chair.
I guess I have to guess what the third recommendation was, but I am not going to try to do any math on my feet here. Actually, I will. We have the Wage Top-Up program ending on August 31st, as I understand it, so $18 an hour. The very next day, people are going to see their hourly wages drop to $15.20. It just does not seem to make any sense, so can the Minister explain to the public, the people, the 9 percent of our workforce that is now accessing the Wage Top-Up program, why he chose $15.20, and can he explain why their wages are going to drop from $18 an hour one day to $15.20 the next?