Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, that was the one unanswered question and the answer would be, yes, that I would continue to update and upgrade the Regular Members as we move forward with the discussions we're having with Canada and the Aboriginal governments.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are developing a discussion paper. I know it is in the mandate that this is something that we have to have a look at by the end of the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly, so the commitment is there, and we are developing a discussion paper. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Government of Canada and the GNWT actually drafted an addendum and release agreements to reflect the transfer of responsibility from Canada to the GNWT. These agreements were not signed prior to devolution because the Aboriginal parties did not support having Canada removed as a signatory to the environmental agreements.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the department has the capacity to do the work. As for a timeline, I think we would have to have a look at it and see what it is exactly it encompasses, and then I think we will be in a better position to give a timeline as to how it would actually take to move from legislation to regulation. We have heard the Member, and we will go back and take a look at it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, the Member likes to throw language like that in there. He knows that this government does not pass the buck, and if there is an opportunity to take a lead on this we will do that because this would more than likely probably be the landing place for it, and I think we have already been doing some preliminary work towards this with the anticipation that this was coming down. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I’m not sure where the $13 million was. I was looking for it on the revenue page. I can say that the personal income tax of $113,276,000, I mean, you can attribute a lot of that to the folks who are working at the mines and then the corporate income tax; same thing. A lot of that is from the mine. The fuel tax; I mean, they would pay a lot of fuel tax. Payroll tax, $42 million. I’d like to know how much of that is from the mines. They do property tax as well. They pay property taxes.

If we were to do the work and add all these numbers up and see what indirectly...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once we are through the budgeting process and we pass the budget, then I can commit to the Member that we will have a briefing to committee before June.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we don't have that detail of information handy. I will commit to the Member that we can put something in writing and provide it to all Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes; it would be in the Management Board Secretariat as we go further in the document. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the quick answer is yes, and I've made the commitment before that I'm going to work with the department, because the word "other" does open it up for questions and we'll take steps to rectify that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.