Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today the news came out that ConocoPhillips got approval for their application. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t think any human system, any tax system or any reporting system is foolproof, so I can’t give that ironclad guarantee. I can tell you we have a system that we believe is effective. We have a lot of very helpful feedback and advice from the Member. We’ve exchanged ideas. We’ve put into effect some of the recommendations he’s made and we are taxing due diligence. We are confident that the system we have is effective. We are going to make improvements like having all the black stock cigarettes are going to now move towards getting them so they have a mark and they are marked...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Member’s statement he made some very clear comments about the public purse and having to mind the public purse. It’s an issue that we are, of course, very aware of. We work collectively on that all the time. We have an Aa1 credit rating. We have the lowest debt to GDP ratio in the country. Our debt servicing costs are the lowest in the country. We just tabled our public accounts information. We just approved our capital budget.

As we look at the revenues, of course, we also have to look at the other side of the equation, which is managing expenditures and...

The NTPC rate zone cost for residential for all communities is 18.73 cents. The wholesale rate to NUL in Hay River is 9.66 cents. The Northland Utilities power rate in Hay River is 31.26 cents. But, yes, those are all agreed to by the communities. The communities make their decision and it’s all approved through the regulatory process. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, we will provide the complete package for the Members. Thank you.

Thank you. That flexibility and opportunity has been significantly impaired since we are currently involved in litigation and I’m being sued by the outfitters. So there’s a lawsuit underway which limits ability for that type of interaction. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that Bill 29, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2013-2014, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is no commercial outfitter tag allocation. There is none currently, and given the herd numbers, there is no plan at this point to reinstitute those commercial tags for some time. The commitment on the Bathurst herd is going to be the next full count will be done in 2015-16, so it will be at least until 2016 before we’re in any position to look at the clear numbers of the state of the Bathurst herd to see what type of harvest may be possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not normal that I would speak on third reading, but I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on the vote we’re about to take in this House on an issue that has been a goal of Assemblies back as far as the 12th Assembly and we should appreciate the significance of this bill and what it has done for us. It has helped us create processes working with Aboriginal governments that exist nowhere else and in which we can draft legislation together. It has helped set a really strong foundation for devolution and it has brought our Wildlife Act, as old and archaic as it is...

I just would need some clarity from the Member on what he means by normal and comparable. If he wants to compare it to the Fort Smith rates, we’d be happy to lay out the price breakdown. I will indicate clearly right now one of the big costs that Yellowknife has, that Hay River has and Fort Smith doesn’t have, is the franchise arrangements and costs that flow from that arrangement that communities make on their own call, because of their franchise fee, and we can show and we will be happy to lay that out for the Member to the cent, to the kilowatt hour and have a discussion if that would...