Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The insurance premiums in the amount of $2.030 million. Is that the same insurance premium that the Minister was mentioning in which we were going to see a reduction of $1.6 million? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I get the corresponding numbers to those four items that the deputy minister mentioned? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Taking advantage of the remaining seconds, could I ask the Minister for more information about the involvement of the government in terms of helping out the NGOs with their insurance coverage? The Minister made reference to shelters. More specifically, I'm wondering if this section of the government, the Finance department and the insurance management division, is engaged in analyzing the situation and looking at options for the government and the NGOs as to how to address the high insurance costs and how to mitigate that cost perhaps. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I think we're getting there. I have a follow-up question, Mr. Chairman. On the first, the premium cost has been reduced by $1.6 million. What is the entire amount of the premium?

My second question is if the short-term interest cost savings that we are getting in the amount of $1.7 million, could we rely on that as something that's going to stay a savings for the rest of this fiscal year? How temporary is that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the net revenue is in the amount of $20 million after taking out the expenses.

I have another question. Where does the money that the Liquor Board gets from the fines and whatever the inspectors do when they go out to bars and give fines to establishments, does that money go into the revolving fund as well and they are available to be used as expenses prior to it being accounted for at the end as part of the surplus or whatever?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Further to that, I believe in his budget statement, Madam Chair, the Minister stated that under the proposal being put forward by the federal government on our financing formula, we would only see an increase in the base in the amount of $7.6 million, which is about one-third of what I believe this government is hoping to be able to achieve; about $18 million more annually than what the federal government is proposing. So I would like to ask the Minister whether or not that $7.6 million to the base that the federal government is proposing is for every year going back...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I appreciate that. It was only months ago, about six months ago, that one of the last things we did in the last Assembly was to raise the tax on tobacco and alcohol. Am I wrong? I want to know what was the income generated as a result of that tax increase. Did I dream this? I am sure we passed an increase in sin tax before we dissolved. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not, given the seriousness of this issue on our financial situation and the importance of this issue in our ability to deliver health care programs to our residents in the future, what efforts has the Minister, if any, made to bring this to the attention of our partners and all the aboriginal government leaders? Would this not be something that he should consider bringing into a territorial agenda so that there is as aggressive an action on this issue as there is currently being mobilized for devolution and the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wasn’t clear on the Minister’s answer as to exactly what the increased revenue is that the government is getting as a result of the increase in taxes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if the Minister could advise as to whether or not this Cabinet, this government or any previous government has ever considered launching a legal action against the federal government to put more added pressure and to express our seriousness about the impossible situation and the urgency to resolve this claim. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.