Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, if companies are coming to work and are working through a socio-economic agreement and they’ve been brought in by one of the mines on a contract, then they’re required, through their commitment to us in those agreements, to make sure they’re registered, that they have all the business licences — if they work with us, along with the contractor — to comply with all the rules and regulations of the land.

Mr. Speaker, southern firms that want to work in the North have to of course register in the North. They have to sign up with WCB. We as the government make sure we are aware of who is working in the North.

One of the requirements is that they have to file and notify what earned income is made in the North by workers, and then there is a process. I don’t have the specific detail or sequence or the type of form that is used, but the Government of the Northwest Territories then deals with the southern firms to make sure the remittance that is due to the Northwest Territories is provided.

Mr. Speaker, the Member must have a really tough time as Christmas approaches if he can’t wait. I have committed to share the information with the committee. We have just heard the concern raised here about the need to consult, to talk before we plan stuff.

If I came in and said I have decided, in my wisdom over coffee in the morning — that I have just dreamed up this regulatory process and we are going to do it because I think it’s a good idea…. I would suggest to you once again, as I have previously, that we have heard very clearly the need to do this through the process.

The business planning...

Mr. Speaker, we have the lowest tax regime, in my understanding, in the country in terms of these fuels. We haven’t touched our fuel taxes since 1997. We don’t want to get ourselves involved, nor do we have the ability to set rack prices and then market prices and those types of things, which fluctuate sometimes daily.

There are market forces at play here, and that’s not an area we are involved in. We have some role to play in the small communities through the Petroleum Products Division. In terms of the market communities we are looking at keeping our costs as low as possible in terms of what...

As pay is issued, that’s one of the deductions that has to be made against the worker’s pay in the Northwest Territories. As cheques are issued in the North for the work that’s done in the North, that deduction is made, and then that deduction flows back to the government.

Everybody who works in the North pays payroll tax, except for the self-employed. Then what we do is refund through the cost of living program to Northerners. So folks who don’t live in the North pay the 2 per cent, and that comes back to the government.

As I committed to in the House yesterday, we’re going to pull together the information. We do have policies as they pertain to print advertising for jobs and such. We’ll share that with the committee as we move forward into the business planning process and as we look at the upcoming business plans, which are going to contain expenditure reductions for the coming year. Then, yes, we can have that discussion. We can try to make sure that we give the clearest political direction as a Legislature as to how we think these dollars can best be spent and at what level of expenditure.

Mr. Speaker, over time there has been. There have been checks to see how we advertise jobs in different newspapers. There have been attempts to centralize that type of work to save costs, of course. There is great consternation at the community level among the community newspapers and regional newspapers when they get cut out of the advertising business.

Clearly, there is a pressure for us to communicate and consult with our constituents across the land. The tendency is, as we look at saving money, to say, “Let’s just try to advertise in the News/North, because everybody reads the News/North.”...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, October 6, 2008, I will move that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 2, 2008–2009, be read for the first time.

If the Member were to check over the past number of years, there has been a fair adjustment up and down to the corporate tax, firstly, and to the amount of money made through corporate taxes or taxes filed in the Northwest Territories. This whole process that we’re engaged in with revenue options is set up to get that kind of feedback to make sure we explore every opportunity, consult with Northerners and come forward with recommendations here in the next number of weeks.