Sandy Lee

Could I just ask a question on how many people are employed by the government who actually look at making sure that people pay taxes? I don’t know what they are called; inspectors. How many people are actually employed full time to make sure that employers pay the taxes that they are supposed to?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are so many questions to this and the details to work out and the debates to have, perhaps the Minister could make a statement in the House about where the government’s position is. But in the interim, could I get the information from the Minister as to whether we’re looking at a nationally run child day care program, or are we looking at tax benefits or are we looking at 50/50 funding? Putting aside the dollar commitments that the federal government is willing to give, because we do hear numbers flowing around, what is this government’s position...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question on the collection of payroll taxes and other taxes that the department is responsible for in just general terms. Can the Minister tell us about what sort of mechanisms are in place to make sure that those who are supposed to pay taxes pay, and those employers who are supposed to hand in those taxes do? What mechanisms do we have to know that if somebody is not doing it, that they are notified in an expeditious manner? Last fall I had two calls; I can’t give names of the employers or the companies because they don’t want to be revealed. In one...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate that the money might be a factor in something like this, but putting that aside I would like to get a more clear picture from the Minister as to what the GNWT’s position is as to what this National Childcare Program should look like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Sorry; I didn’t hear there from the Minister, on balance, if the government is ahead or not. I think our findings are that the insurance premium did still go up. It’s just probably not as much as it could of if the change in the policy did come about. But is it possible for the government, or is the government engaged in doing a cost-benefit analysis where we say okay we take this much on premiums, these things happen over the years that cost us this much, and if we had a different kind of insurance package there’s X amount being covered? So now that we have this new kind of package we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I just conclude by saying that I really see this debate as an opportunity for all of us in the North. It is an opportunity to implement a spectrum of quality early childcare education that begins at the age of one, not at the age of five, so that we give our children a real head start in life. There is just no more important work for us to do. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I know that Minister Ken Dryden is a huge hero to the hockey fans all across Canada, but, oh boy, if he could score this one in the net, I know he will be a hero to all Canadians for ever and ever...

Thank you. I’m glad that the Minister does understand what I am trying to say here, because I do believe that we were in the House when these questions came up. I can’t remember exactly when -- probably in the last two years and I don’t know exactly which group had applied for it -- but I do believe that the Minister of Health and Social Services, then and now, made an exception to those NGOs who are engaged in activities that makes it really hard to obtain insurance and if they did then their insurance costs are just exorbitantly high.

I think another example I could think of -- maybe not...

Seven seconds left; holy. Sorry; I had so many questions.

---Laughter

Maybe I’ll just end with one. I’m still not clear though. I know there are criteria for capital funding, safety, protection of assets and such, but how does an indoor facility, which I would think is pretty essential if there are no other facilities in that community for a place to meet or play indoor sports for children -- and I understand there are three or four communities in the North that have that problem -- how does that rank? Why does that rank behind changing the carpets in an office in Yellowknife? I really believe...

Mr. Speaker, if the Members do not agree with the original amendments, I think the right thing to do is to send the work back to the Striking Committee. It is a working committee, it’s a standing committee, it’s a respected committee that has been set up by Members to do this work. So I really think that this is interfering with the process that’s very well established and it is not respectable of the Striking Committee that was set up by Members to do Members' work. I would like to also urge the Members in voting on this, to consider what precedent this might be setting. We would not want...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Once again, I will just wait to see what the initial review of that is and make further comments. On page 3-31 that we are on, the figures show that the revised estimate for 2004-05 is less than what was projected in the main estimates. For next year, we are looking at a lesser amount being budgeted than this current year. Are we looking at a downward trend in the consumption of alcohol, or what is the basis for reducing this budget? In particular, why is there an almost $900,000 difference between what was estimated for this year and what seems to be the actual...