Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that, in future, any GNWT department being audited provide the Standing Committee on Government Operations with a copy of its actions or implementation plan at the earliest possible opportunity and no later than three business days prior to the public review on the Auditor General's report, consistent with the Process Convention on Communications Between Cabinet Ministers, Standing Committees, and Regular Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs take the steps necessary to ensure that the 13 recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General in Tabled Document 173-18(2) are implemented in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that the Minister of Finance has no plans to lower the tax on small business any time soon, but I’d like to ask him today if he will commit to implementing a small investment tax credit by next budget which would give a 25 per cent non-refundable personal income tax credit up to a maximum of $25,000 a year. This would reduce financial risk to investors and encourage investment in our economy. Will the Minister commit to introducing a small business investment tax credit by next budget? Thank you.

Again, I might not have all the answers. Clearly, the Minister does not have many answers that I will like today, but I think there are people out there in our business community who are very concerned about these issues and want to be heard. I would like the Minister to hear from them directly. Will the Minister commit to engaging them in a comprehensive conversation around procurement?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a more technical issue that the committee has taken with the report. It relates in particular to the contribution agreements with designated authorities and also adjusting the target dates of the priority actions undertaken therein. There is still a lot of grey area related to designated authorities and who is actually responsible. The department struggles with their relationship with these entities. The committee is quite concerned about this and would like to ensure that how we are proceeding on them is clear and specific to what the department wants to achieve...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I asked a question about procurement reform, and the Minister responsible said that he is not aware of any complaints. Today, I have a complaint for him. Some of my constituents are concerned about the 50 per cent plus one ownership requirements of BIP, saying, it is extremely frustrating for us to stay here year round, pay property taxes on several properties, pay extremely high living costs, and watch all the work go to divisions of southern companies who have a majority of equipment and employees in the South come up on a seasonal basis. There is a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this motion recommends something that is quite self-explanatory, ensuring we have appropriate indicators, so we can, in fact, measure the progress that we are hoping to achieve. Given that the audit is related to the provision of essential services in communities including emergency preparedness, fire, water, the committee believes that having clear indicators is of crucial importance to our communities moving forward. We hope that this will be adopted, and we will see those indicators in the final action plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As public engagement is an important priority of this government and we want to make sure we are making informed decisions that take into account the people that are most affected, the committee has put forward this recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Further to my previous comments on the last motion, when the standing committee was given the action plan for this audit, it was in final form, and committee felt that we were not given an opportunity to provide feedback to those concerns. Again, our work on these audits is an important part of that process. We would ask that, in the future, our comments and feedback be considered before any final plans are implemented.

I should add, as well, it is not the standing committee's intention with this motion to be involved in every step of the audit process, merely the final...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we were reviewing this business plan in particular, the government was very late in getting their action plan to us. In fact, probably about three hours was actually afforded in business days. We want to avoid that problem in the future. We certainly do appreciate the hard work that the department did in working with the Auditor General's office in developing their action plan. For us to play our part in this process, as the Standing Committee on Government Operations and the public accounts committee for this Assembly, we need to be given that information in a...