Robert Hawkins

I’ll wait until I get that level of detail from the Minister of Finance, and I’ll provide a suggestion after we have that comparison data.

Sorry. The terminology of “revolving fund” might not be exactly correct. I guess I mean put a fund in place that, for example, we funded to the tune of $5 million. They draw down on that $5 million. A good year means they only drew down $3 million. Then, of course, the normal appropriation process tops it up back to that fund and they draw down to it. The surplus wouldn’t be lost for the intent. It would almost be doing the same thing that we’re doing now. We’re just funding it after the fact, which often causes me to wonder why we bother even budgeting anything under the fire suppression...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I started off in my very first question to talk about how I seem to be so unquoted that it’s messy, I want to ask the Minister what he is going to do to continue to consult. That’s all I was asking. What are you doing to consult with Members as a discussion paper on these tax initiatives before you run out to the public and scare them?

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be little effort to go and attract new investment. It talks about playing with the tax numbers, but it wasn’t that long ago that we had people go out and look for businesses to file their taxes in the North. That has actually led to problems because we haven’t created a stable tax base. So what is this Finance Minister doing to attract big tax filers to come to the North and file their taxes in the North, and will we be the beneficiary of those corporate taxes that they pay?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know what? A lot of people want to know how much this is going to cost when they find out what a waste of time has been conceded by Cabinet. I mean, you could have spent a lot of time…. Just an extra meeting with Regular Members to say that these are the good ideas you should maybe take to the public. We’re not saying that it has to be these ideas, but we’re saying these are the ones that I’m sure they’ll be willing to listen to.

So how much is this little fiasco going to cost the general public to just hear no, no, no? Thank you.

It’s nice to see, for a change, that the other side of the House is listening to our side of the House, but I don’t seem to remember seeing a fuel tax. I remember a sales tax in that list.

Mr. Speaker, I think I heard from the Finance Minister’s little special speech there, which he had seemingly prepared, that he recited carbon tax and resource tax. Why aren’t you putting your focus into those ones that we suggested as opposed to some of these red herrings, such as sales tax? You’re really wasting our time, your time and the public’s time. Why didn’t he do that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to the Assembly Elder Samuel George and Elder Jeff Anderson. They are missionaries doing good work in our community. My wife and I have had the pleasure to get to know them while they are here. Elder George is from Utah, I believe, and Elder Anderson is from Idaho, if I am correct. Anyway, they are here to do good work in our community.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said yesterday, the problem with this government is it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and it continues to be obvious more so even today. I only wish there were a program like the Tree of Peace to send the Finance Minister to, to make sure he understands that, but we don’t.

So it’s about time this government realizes that you could lower the cost of living in government and do business better at the same time without raising taxes. We need someone over there on that Cabinet side of this building to understand that we don’t need new taxes.

Again, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d just like to seek clarification from the Minister. It was difficult to hear him. I wasn’t sure if he said that the surplus could be spent on something other than the fire suppression.

Memory may not serve me correctly, but for some reason I seem to recall that we’ve gone to a special warrant process for the last five years that I’ve been in the Assembly. Has there been a supplementary appropriation to pick up the shortfall every year for the last five years? Would the Minister be able to tell me that? Am I correct?