Statements in Debates
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate that. Is that conversation going to start with standing committee sometime in the next two or three months? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, this is going to be more of a comment. I appreciate the Minister's response, talking to the standing committee first, but I am certainly advocating for the public process, revenue options paper like was done a couple years ago, and I have continually given the Minister ideas about how to stabilize and make our revenues more predictable through a resource tax, capital tax. There are lots of different instruments out there. I think it is time we start to look at those. All of our effort so far have been on the expenditure side of the equation, and we need to start to focus more...
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Great to get that Valentine's gift from the Minister of Finance. Is there not somewhere in the business plan or in the main estimates that that total can be shown? We have got “liquor revolving fund presentation” as an information item in the main estimates, but something as fundamental as the Heritage Fund, I have to ask on an annual basis what the balance is. I am sure I could go and check in the public accounts, but, by the time we get the public accounts, they are more than a year old.
Is there not some way that we can show what the balance in the fund is through a...
That causes me a little bit of concern, so what is it we can do as a government to make corporate income tax or taxes in general more predictable and stable? I will start with that, thanks, Mr. Chair?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am on page 148, and the contract services amount for 20182019 is a fair bit less than 20172018. Can someone tell me what's going on there? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. I want to move on to corporate income tax, which has taken a precipitous drop from the 2017-2018 Main Estimates of $83 million down to $31 million. So can someone explain what is happening here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following document entitled "Pharmacare: A Plan for Everyone" by the Canadian Labour Congress. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I am still concerned that maybe we were overly optimistic with that one, but I look forward to seeing how it rolls out. Are there any plans to expand the network to Tuktoyaktuk or other communities along the way, like Jean Marie River? Is this something that Finance is starting to think about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Again, I want to thank the Minister. There are some difficult decisions to be made ahead, but we have to start that conversation. So joint drug buying programs are something that our government has participated in to help lower our expenditures on that side. Can the Minister update us on NWT's participation in national-provincial drug buying cooperatives and any analysis of their benefits which might be under way?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to ask about the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link revenue line on page 140. Back in 20172018, it was predicted to be $1.182 million, but it was significantly less. Can someone explain what is happening there and why we are not getting the revenues that were predicted? Thanks, Mr. Chair.