Caroline Wawzonek

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Hay River North, that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the second time. The bill reduces the small business tax rate from 4 percent to 2 percent effective January 1, 2020. It also makes retroactive amendments to harmonize the Northwest Territories tax regime with the federal system. Those amendments do two things: ensure that split income received by a senior is factored into the determination of their Territorial Age Credit; and allow more pension credit for veterans. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

There is actually a Buy North campaign already that the department of ITI has been sponsoring. It's free for all businesses to participate in the program. It's being advertised around the Northwest Territories, though, given the question, it seems that perhaps the knowledge about the program needs to be looked at again. As for what might be done to increase or enhance the participation in the program for businesses and what we can do, I will certainly go and see if there are some best practices from my colleagues in other parts of the country, that we can employ here in advance of the...

I am certainly not one to shy away from the fact that we need to react quickly to what's happening with COVID-19 and react quickly to what's happening in the business community. However, at the same time, I am also determined that we have to maintain our due diligence before making a policy change that is to a program that has been long-standing, so I am not going to take a position here on the floor today that we will significantly alter that program going forward.

The Member has certainly given me an interesting way of approaching business relief. There are a lot of programs that are out...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is an item where there are a number of different things happening that are specific to women in the North and the response under COVID. There certainly has been funding that has been under specific pots of the relief funding that we received from the federal government that is required to go toward supporting vulnerable populations. That would be particularly people fleeing relationships of violence, certainly, the majority of which do tend to be women. There has also been funding that has been directed toward supporting women who would be more vulnerable, for...

In some ways, it's a simple yes in that that is the goal of the Department of Finance through Procurement Shared Services, to ensure that we are providing value not only, obviously, to the people of the Northwest Territories in the expenditure of public funds, but value to the business community. It really is an easy answer, in that sense, but how we do it is where it becomes more complicated. As I have indicated, we are fast-tracking efforts to have procurement review but also looking at some immediate measures that we can bring into place, hopefully before the next sitting, again, on an...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think the Member's statement earlier on actually identified that this, indeed, in large part, does involve the procurement of resources and procurement of projects through the Government of the Northwest Territories. As I mentioned in my own Minister's statement today, we acknowledge that there certainly has been a lot of discussion around ensuring that the procurement processes we have are indeed providing best benefits to the people of the Northwest Territories and the businesses of the Northwest Territories.

Again, and I know the Member acknowledged it, there is...

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following document: "Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021." Thank you, Madam Speaker.

What the government can do and what the government is doing is assessing the feasibility of this project so that we can actually determine what the actual costs will be and then be able to make an informed choice about whether or not the government can find a way to fill a gap, if there is, in fact, a gap in the market. By doing that, we can also go out and see if there may be potential partners. This may be an opportunity where the Indigenous governments of that region may want to become involved, but it's difficult to go and have that conversation in a meaningful and honest way without...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have done a number of things since the time of June. We have already responded back. This same enquiry was made by some of the chiefs from the Member's communities, as well as from the Yellowknife mayor. We have responded back to them to let them know the work that we have undertaken. We have some initial costing that would demonstrate the costs of either partial or full coverage between the Whati junction to Yellowknife, so we have that initial costing done. That was done in conjunction with Northwestel and the Department of Finance, and we have communicated that...

I certainly want to acknowledge that I appreciate these questions in the House. It brings attention to the matter. It certainly demonstrates the urgency of the issue. There are always asks and always needs, and so many of them relate to the well-being of the people of the Northwest Territories. Just to give some context, it would be $90 million in estimate to cover only 65 percent of all of our roadways in the Northwest Territories. Now, that is not the section that I recognize that the MLA is asking about. That section would be, initially, for a full coverage, about $10 million, but then...