Roger Allen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Would the Premier provide and in-depth political analysis of those sections of the Constitution Act, 1982, which give constitutionality to other political institutions in the Northwest Territories, which you must consult with prior to the introduction of a bill of intent to achieve provincehood?

Will he provide analysis of the applicability of relevant past provisions of the BNA/Constitution acts?

Would the continuity of laws not consistent with those of the act be impacted?

Would changes to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we all recognize the difficulty in trying to persuade the federal government to acknowledge that we are an emerging territory. So I am going to ask the Premier again, failing his undertaking on a trilateral level, if he would call upon the chief electoral office to conduct a referendum on the question of the creation of the Northwest Territories as a province. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I encouraged the Premier to draft a bill of intent that would give rise to the creation of the Northwest Territories to a province. I am now going to ask the Premier if he will produce such a bill of intent within this 15th Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, March 18, 2004, I will move the following motion. Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that the honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Calvin Pokiak, and the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. David Ramsay, be appointed as deputy chairpersons of Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t see the relevancy in the discussion with a third party in terms of the constitutional relationship between the federal and territorial governments. I am going to ask the Premier again if he is willing to bring a bill of intent to the Prime Minister’s office through the normal process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No disrespect to the Premier’s answer, however, I still feel that the people of the Northwest Territories, especially in my riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes, lost confidence in that document and any subsequent documents thereafter. So I am going to again ask the Premier if he is willing to bring forth this process to discuss further with the western and northern Premiers in the conference in Inuvik in July. So I would ask him if he would begin this work, the political work to start generating support for this process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Throughout the course of the 14th and 15th Legislative Assemblies, the Legislative Assembly and Cabinet have been working diligently on devolution, resource revenue sharing and new fiscal arrangements with the federal government. This has been an exhaustive exercise and could be classified as futile in effort.

On many occasions, we have heard the Premier make public statements to this effect. In a quote from the National Post on February 2nd he states, “This thing has been going on far too long. From a territorial and constituency perspective, I don’t believe anyone in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My written question is addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Would the Minister undertake a study on how many GNWT employees are users of tobacco products and, secondly, can he provide to the best of his knowledge, any costs related to GNWT employees who are diagnosed with respiratory problems or other medical conditions caused by smoking? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be tabling a couple of documents later this afternoon. I would make reference to the fact that we have the ability to introduce some tax exemptions that would help us facilitate social and economic growth in the Northwest Territories. Again, I would ask the Minister if he would elaborate for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories if he’s willing to adopt new tax initiatives that would be part of the strategy to improve operational efficiencies in economies throughout the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I took a vested interest in listening to the Finance Minister’s budget process update and feel that, with the number of problems he encounters in the revenue and expenditure section, I’ve made a few comments on how we should encourage the government to introduce tax exemptions to improve upon that kind of development for our residents of the Northwest Territories. So my question to the Minister is whether he is prepared to introduce new tax exemption mechanisms and, if so, how does he intend to implement this new initiative? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.