Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize two Pages that have come from the small community of Jean Marie River. Miss Alisha Grossetete and Miss Kyla Norwegian are in Grade 9. Thank you for your hard work this week.
Also to the chaperone, my cousin Ms. Yvonne Norwegian, who was here helping them throughout the week.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very pleased to recognize today in the gallery Lorraine Phaneuf, the executive director for the Status of Women Council; and Gail Cyr, special advisor to the Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
I’d also like to recognize Gaetan Caron, chair of the National Energy Board; Susan Bedouin, leader of paralegal service of the National Energy Board; and, of course, David Hamilton, member of the National Energy Board.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize our table officers today. I recognize Mr. Anthony “Tony” Whitford as the resident of Weledeh.
In the gallery, I believe, is Amanda Mallon, who was there earlier. She is a resident of Weledeh and city councillor.
Also there is Gail Cyr, who has been mentioned, a recent recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. Also, if memory serves, also perhaps a past Wise Woman Award winner and most importantly, of course, a resident of Weledeh.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize a Page who worked with us last week and has been working with us again this week: Brenda Joyce-Hotte. Thank you very much for all the work that you’ve done.
As well, I would like to recognize two members from the NWT Teachers’ Association who are with us today: Mr. Dave Roebuck, the executive director; and Ms. Gayla Meredith, who is the communications officer with the NWTTA.
I cannot ignore two acquaintances who are sitting at the Clerk’s Table. It’s an honour to have you two gentlemen here today: Mr. David Hamilton and Mr. Tony Whitford. Welcome, everyone.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me pleasure to recognize a constituent in the gallery: Lorraine Phaneuf.
I’d as well like to recognize on this occasion our very favourite table officer, albeit two, I should say, today; I should make sure that’s correct. I’d like to recognize my mentor, of course, the honourable Anthony W.J. Whitford. I’d also like to do special recognition to Mr. David Hamilton. He’s been a friend as well as a mentor of mine for so long I remember when he was taller than I was. I’ve known him that long.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank two Pages here from the area of Range Lake. We have Naoka Blondin and MacKinley Moore. Thank you for your assistance, guys.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Lorraine Phaneuf and Gail Cyr, whose names are very familiar and common when it comes to efficient, healthy and positive programs across the Northwest Territories and in the communities. I’ve heard these names ever since I’ve been in the workforce, and I’m very glad to have finally met both of them and have them both in the House today.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Colleagues, I’d like to welcome again Ms. Danielle Bryan, a visiting student from the University of Toronto. This is her last day here with us, so all the best to you, Ms. Bryan.
I’d like to welcome all the visitors in the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings here today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On January 26, 2012, the Canadian Rangers welcomed its 59th patrol to the Northern Canada Group. Based on their website, the Canadian Rangers are the military eyes and ears in the North, hence their motivation. They’re watchers. There are 163 patrols across Canada. Many are Aboriginal and speak a native language. I want to acknowledge those people who make this a reality in the Northwest Territories and those who encourage them.
The Canadian Rangers provide a vital service to our country. It is important their commitment and dedication is acknowledged by everyone.
Deline has 16 volunteer Canadian Rangers and are now part of a larger family of over 1,500 in the Northern Canada Patrol Group. Congratulations, Deline, for setting an example through hard work and being role models for others to follow.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I made reference to a potential open door in the tobacco tax collection process. Specifically, the manual self-reporting remains portion of the GNWT tax. As stated, I have highlighted a potential problem which fails to ensure we are indeed getting the maximum tax of what tobacco comes into the NWT for sale. In order to put accountability and public trust into the system as it stands today, would the Minister of Finance consider having a one-source of distribution for all tobacco coming into the Northwest Territories so that we can ensure that all cigarettes are accounted for and that all taxes are collected?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government’s internal Audit Bureau spent over 600 hours of man time to investigate the allegations that have been raised in regard to tobacco, and they reached the following conclusions, which I will quickly outline:
that there was a reasonable assurance that the GNWT was collecting the required tobacco tax revenue;
there was no evidence to support assertions that collectors were under-reporting their sales volume to the GNWT;
there was no evidence that the Northwest Company was incorrectly reporting sales to the NWT to avoid paying the higher tax rate; and
some small retailers were circumventing the NWT tobacco tax collection process by making purchases from an unlicensed wholesaler in Alberta.
Thank you.
I appreciate the summation, as I know I heard from the Minister before. But going back to the suggestion of a single distribution wholesaler in the NWT to mitigate this manual self-reporting structure as we see today, I think it’s a wise move on behalf of the GNWT and I think it’s also a smart business decision. I guess the question is: What’s holding the Minister back from considering a solution so we can put accountability and public trust back into the system?
We’ve spent a lot of time looking at this issue. There are a number of questions and areas, of course, for further discussion. Is the issue on the wholesale side and setting up a single wholesaler, or is it on the retail side, which is where I believe the problem is, and the issue of while we can have a good system like most laws in the country, which is why we have jails and police. If people want to try to circumvent the system, as they do with tobacco, there are many ways to try to do that. Our job, as the Member has indicated, is to try to make sure that we have as airtight a system as possible. I would, of course, look forward to continued discussions on this issue with the Member and committee, as we move through business planning processes, as a way to keep this issue under the magnifying glass for a thorough discussion. Thank you.
I do appreciate the Minister for his summation again here, but I don’t believe the Minister today is clearly seeing the potential for this exploitation, this manual remittance portion. It’s clear that there is a viable solution out there with a single-source distribution of a wholesaler and it appears that it’s just not in his language. At least it’s not in a language that I think will address the issue. I have highlighted a potential problem in our tax collection process, and in doing so, if the Minister isn’t going down this pathway, what measures will he put forward so that we can put accountability back into the system?
I could repeat the findings of the internal Audit Bureau, which has given me comfort that the system overall is working. Are there improvements? Absolutely. I’m sure if we had more resources and more ability, we could have more folks on the ground.
The issue of the one wholesaler, that’s one potential way to look at things. Will it deal with the issue of retailers? I’m not convinced that it will. Am I prepared to have more discussion? I am.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister for leaning towards the direction of a single-source distribution centre, but to go further now, I believe that the issue being raised today puts some doubt in the way we’re doing our tobacco tax. In doing so, I’m asking the Minister: Could we have a whole disclosure to the House with the internal Audit Bureau so that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that we are indeed 100 percent confident that we’re collecting this tobacco tax, and would the Minister agree to reporting these findings to this House? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The assertion initially was that we were missing up to $12 million to $15 million a year in lost tax revenue because of unreported tobacco sales. We put a significant amount of manpower onto that issue to follow up on that matter. As Finance Minister, the thought of us missing that kind of revenue, given our fiscal circumstances, immediately got my eye. We spent months doing the work. We’ve come back. The first finding is that there’s a reasonable assurance that the GNWT was collecting the required tobacco tax revenue.
The Member has some ongoing concerns. I’m prepared to look at and discuss those further. He’s made a suggestion. I don’t believe there’s a silver bullet that will provide the type of certainty that the Member asks for, and in the businesses that we’re in, I don’t think we could point to any that provides 100 percent certainty in anything we do. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I raised, once again, the emergency protection order issue. This does cause grave concern, as far as I’m concerned, when it comes to the falsely accused, and the justice by itself, by nature, seems to be ignoring them as now becoming a victim. My question for the Minister of Justice is: Does the Minister of Justice believe at this particular time the policies and procedures put in place to issue an emergency protection order are fair and balanced? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The emergency protection order is an incredibly valuable tool to battle family violence in the Northwest Territories. I’ve had an opportunity to talk with RCMP, NGOs and the department about the importance of these EPOs, and I’ve had an opportunity to look at the policies that exist and talk about those policies with the department and others. I believe that there are some recommendations that came forward in the report that was done in the last Assembly. We are looking at those recommendations and we will make corrections and improvements where appropriate. Thank you.
I’m glad the Minister referenced the report, because if he had a chance to read it – not to say he didn’t – but if he did read it, he’d also note that on page 28 of the report it talks about why RCMP like EPOs. They’re a good tool because they don’t require any investigation to issue an EPO. Forty percent of the officers suggested that. But at the same time RCMP have also noted and they feel that further information to confirm the victim’s accusation to ensure that the applicant’s legitimates are applied on good grounds. Pointing at those two variances noted in this particular report, I’d like to ask the Minister again: Are the policies and procedures designed in a way to provide fairness for the accused person for whom an EPO needs to be issued? Thank you.
The Member has quoted from the report. The report is under consideration and we will make improvements to the EPO process as we move forward. The EPOs are supported by a significant number of different groups in the Northwest Territories and they have saved lives. I had an opportunity to talk with the RCMP in Inuvik when we were up there in January, and they said very clearly that EPOs save lives. At the end of the day, that’s an incredibly important thing. Thank you.
I’ve never said, to the contrary, what the Minister just stated. So I want to make sure that that’s ultimately crystal clear, that I too do believe that EPOs will save lives and are an important mechanism in our justice system. But the way the report was written, it went further on to discredit the RCMP’s position by almost suggesting – I’m being clear here – that they may be biased on their pursuit. On one hand we talk about issuance of why; because we need safety and protection. On the other hand, we have a credible force or agency in our system that says there are problems and we need to investigate them, and then they discredit them. We have a bit of a challenge here. So what is the Minister of Justice going to do to ensure and issue an edict to ensure that there is fairness and relief for people who have been falsely accused? Thank you.
The act is designed in such a way, and EPOs are designed in such a way, that there are checks and balances. When an individual comes in to file or prepare an EPO, they sit down with people who have been trained on what an EPO is and how it’s supposed to be filled out. Those individuals, through the training – and I have confirmed this with the department – are required to explain to the individual the ramifications of lies, which the act does cover as well. The act says if you lie and you’re charged, you can receive jail time or fines. There are checks and balances in place, and at the end of the day, the act didn’t create the victims, it’s the person who provided false information or lied, and those individuals can be charged under the Criminal Code as well.
The system is designed to encourage people not to lie, but we can’t stop people from lying. There will always be people who abuse systems. In this case, the case that happened earlier, that did in fact happen, and the person was charged and convicted.
But the program is important. It provides value. It needs to continue and we support it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the little leeway you have given me on this particular problem, because it is a big problem. The justice system, the Supreme Court has noted about the potential for people using EPOs is a tool for custody battles and divorces. The last thing I will point out is the report is built around three things: increasing awareness, improve access to emergency protection and to improve protection. Nowhere in this report does it support findings that are crystal clear that say that EPOs can be abused. There is not one recommendation to say we need to make sure it is fair. What is the Minister going to look at when it cites these and then discredits them? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the report is before us and it is being reviewed by the department. I had directed the department to review the training programs that they have in place, that people who assist people prepare EPOs go through to ensure that they make it very clear to individuals the ramifications of perjury. We need to make sure that people understand the ramifications of using a tool like this to hurt as opposed to help. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of New Energy Initiatives, Mr. Bob McLeod. As mentioned in my Member’s statement earlier today, fossil fuels are failing us in both supply and price, and the trends indicate that those are only going to get worse more rapidly. In contrast, jurisdictions are switching to renewable energy and proving the naysayers wrong in every case, surpassing targets big time. Will the GNWT take steps to inform themselves of this trend and implement such policies here? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels is a priority of this government. We have taken initial steps in the 16th Assembly where we invested approximately $60 million over the lifetime of the 16th Assembly to that very end that the Member has raised. We are following all of the developments. We have looked at what Ontario has done. We looked at other jurisdictions. It is our intention to do so. Of course, our main concern is to make sure that we continue to provide energy and that we do it at reasonable rates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. I wish it was completely accurate, but unfortunately many of those $60 million, of course, were directed to irrational subsidies of fossil fuels. Many of our people across the Northwest Territories want to reduce their energy costs. They have motivation and infrastructure suitable for generating renewable energy for their own use and for sale, but first a fair price is needed. A feed-in tariff price is fair because it recognizes the benefits and savings of renewable energy. Will the Minister commit to considering a feed-in tariff policy and requiring all NWT power companies to purchase renewable energy at a fair feed-in tariff price? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the Member suggests that we are irrational, especially since all of those expenditures were approved by this House. Nevertheless, we spent a significant amount of money to look at solar, geothermal, biomass, all of those alternatives, and we have, through the Public Utilities Board, worked with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to establish a process for net metering. We are quite prepared to go down that road. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I do indeed appreciate the investigation of that metering by the Power Corporation. Unfortunately, it has set a purchase price at a ridiculously low price and will go nowhere until we establish a feed-in tariff price. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there to investigate this feed-in tariff and put one in place.
The smart grid and time of day pricing have proven to reduce costs and usually increase efficiency of energy systems. An example of that is putting down, taking off the peak power requirement that reduces energy efficiency in our systems to about 20 or 25 percent; very inefficient. Will the Minister commit to learning about this tool and promoting its application in the Northwest Territories, the smart grid? Thank you.
The smart grid as described sounds very exciting. This is something that we would very much want to investigate and explore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
