Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I recollect, I believe, it was the Member saying this just today in this House: just do these specific taxes; don’t bother; let’s just get at it; we know which ones are the right ones.

This whole process we’ve laid out with the revenue options paper, the mail-out across the North, the two day round table, the briefing of committee, the business planning process which we’re going to feed all this information into, is all geared to engage fully the wisdom and advice that we’re going to get from the committees and the Members, even the Member opposite from Yellowknife Centre, and...

If we overspend the budget, we’ll have to find the money. It will be part of our financial calculations going forward here as we conclude this fiscal year and plan for the next.

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.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Clearly, this wasn’t an unforeseen expense. It is the way that the money is booked so we can respect the confidentiality as much as possible of the collective bargaining process. We don’t put in our budgets the figures we think are going to be there for negotiation.

It is similar to the issue with the capital plan that Members have raised. There is so much detail in the capital plan that contractors know to the dollar what money is there for a specific contract. So that’s the way the money is booked. Clearly, if there is an interest from the Members in coming up with or...

Mr. Speaker, the government is committed to working with the diamond mines; we do it as a matter of course. We are putting special attention and emphasis on this because of the revenue options that we see dealing with the fly in/fly out workers. Being able to get more of them located in the North, as has been raised in this House repeatedly by the Member for Kam Lake — he has pushed us to do that — is a key part of the possible revenue options that we see would add to our economic pace and help us grow the population of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Chairman, there’s a line just below the $10.272 million negative supp that indicates that these projects will be put back into the budget for next year. The $3.75 million is part of the money for the $9.4 million that’s being advanced to free up funds to start projects that are considered important, in this case the demolition and site remediation of the Aurora College campus.

Mr. Chairman, the scope of the work for the project in Aklavik includes planning, design, construction and warranty work associated with replacing existing water treatment systems to meet the Canadian drinking water standards. The existing intakes will be upgraded and reused. The current status is that 60 per cent of the design is scheduled to be received by the end of October 2008, which will be the end of this month.

Mr. Speaker, ITI regularly meets with the diamond mines. There is a meeting set up here in the next number of weeks with Minister Bob McLeod and Minister Lafferty, as well as myself, to talk to their president. They have indicated an interest to us to talk about the revenue options paper. So we do meet on a regular basis, but there is clearly going to be some special attention paid to the work that is currently going on in terms of the consultation process.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Ms. Margaret Melhorn, the deputy minister of Finance and FMB, and Mr. Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Public Works and Services. I would also like to request at the appropriate time to bring in Mr. Russ Neudorf, the deputy minister of Transportation, when we get to the Transportation page on the supplementary appropriation.