Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's satisfactory, but I will say this: this is a great idea, we've seen it be very successfully deployed on a national level, so I would encourage the Minister to both quantify how many more families this is going to benefit; the average costs that families will be able to gain monthly from this benefit or annually or whatever it shakes down to; and communicate that broadly with the public so they know exactly how much their government is giving back to them in the form of this NWT child benefit, and especially if you're doubling the amount of families who receive it...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move this committee to defer further consideration of the directorate activity in the Department of Finance, Main Estimates 2017-2018 on page 132 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

How many families are currently receiving the benefit under the current structure of the benefit? Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If there was a change in our tax rates, is it the director who would be responsible for implementing that change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I neglected to ask about the NWT Child Benefit, so in the department total I'll just ask some questions about this.

So this is a new change that's coming forward again with the passage of a piece of legislation that is currently with committee at second reading in this House, and it will increase the benefits payable through the fund or, sorry, through the credit. How many families are going to benefit from the enhanced NWT child benefit? Thank you.

No, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this does suppose the passage of Bill 15? Yes. Sorry, it pre-supposes the passage. Thank you.

Although we are not directly referring to the section, the Public Utilities Board on the org chart is under the Minister responsible, who in turn is under the Premier. Does that have any kind of structural implications? The independence of the office is obviously established by legislation, but does the Premier have direction over the Minister responsible when issuing policy direction to the Public Utilities Board or does policy direction come from the Minister responsible? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I look forward to the discussion paper. Nothing further, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that commitment. It’s not just about sharing knowledge too. It’s about encouraging research opportunities and bringing more funding into the North. I know that the Royal Research Institute does a lot of that work and although that’s not this department, it is related to our research opportunities in the North. I just think that if we pursue those kind of opportunities such as installing research chairs, we can greatly increase the amount of funding and research opportunities that come into the North and potentially find another avenue of economic -- well, not...