Michael Miltenberger

I suppose the first challenge would be to agree on the definitions or come to understand the definitions of the words that the Member is using — stabilize, levelize — in relation to corporate taxes and those types of things. Clearly, the goal of the government, as laid out by the Premier and that I as well spoke to in my fiscal update, is to come up with affordable government that has new revenues coming in, where we have a government that we can afford, yet we maintain the high level of services that people have come to expect. We’re working diligently to reach that point.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The next collective bargaining is going to be in the next number of months with the UNW. I understand they have to go through their convention and election process, and then right after that we’re all gearing up for that round of collective bargaining. If we assume that the length of the agreement will be similar to the one we settled with NWTTA, it would be possibly a four year agreement, which means it wouldn’t come this way again until sometime in the life of the 17th Assembly.

As I’ve indicated to Ms. Bisaro, if there’s a better way to book and account for the money...

I move that consideration of Tabled Document 75-16(2), Supplementary Appropriation Act No. 2, 2008–2009, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 75-16(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session in the form of an appropriation bill.

Mr. Speaker, the corporate income tax is one of the options that is listed in the revenue options document. That has been looked at over the years. We have raised it in the past; we have lowered it in the past. We have the challenge of living immediately north of Alberta, which has, I believe at this point, the lowest corporate income tax in the land and a huge budget surplus and revenue stream that allows them to do that. Clearly that is one of the options that’s out there for consideration as we look at the discussions ahead.

Mr. Chairman, the initial projected net suppression cost for 2008–2009 was $5.6 million. We ended up with $3 million more than that, with money that was approved.

One of the things we do every fire season is a debriefing on what happened, how it happened, in what areas and what we can learn from that. We’ve also had discussions with the department about looking at the current values at risk system and the command and control structures to make sure we are being as timely as possible and that everything is working as effectively as can be.

I want to point out that we have very capable fire staff...

Mr. Chairman, I have with me, in addition to Ms. Melhorn, Mr. Russ Neudorf, the deputy minister of Transportation.

Mr. Speaker, we estimate there are over 2,000 workers that are in the business of flying in and flying out. With the work we are undertaking, we’d hopefully capture at least 300 of those over the next number of years. Clearly, we believe that we have to do a better job working with the mines with the bilateral arrangements, socio-economic agreements, to realize those numbers.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The estimated completion date for Aklavik is March 2010.

Mr. Chairman, this is going to be a one-time process. The intent is, as I indicated previously, to have the necessary amendments to the Financial Administration Act in place for the next go-round. The other thing is that we are now doing capital in the fall, and this would give us a more accurate reflection of where we stand as we look at approving projects. Normally the carry-overs and such wouldn’t be dealt with until sometime later in the spring, which would be several months down the road. This gives us, in our opinion, for this one cycle, an opportunity to have a clearer idea of where we...

Yes, I can, but the rules of the House preclude me giving them in any great detail. I will commit to the Member that we will forward to the Member the luminous policies that are there in regard to print advertising.