Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I raised a number of concerns on differing statistical numbers between Stats Canada and the GNWT pertaining to the subject of tobacco. However, what is most concerning, according to our public accounts, is that our actual tobacco collection is way off from the 2013 Main Estimates by a whopping $1.7 million. My questions will be for the Minister of Finance today.
Can the Minister offer an explanation why the data for smoking, smoking rates by population and daily average smoking rates, for example, differ between what the Government of the Northwest Territories reports and what Statistics Canada reports? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In dealings with the federal government over the years on issues of statistics, the one thing that has always stuck in my mind when we’re trying to get accurate numbers is that we are such a small jurisdiction that they consider us, in many cases, statistically insignificant when it comes to determining national trends and numbers. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wish I could accept that as a response, but I guess that’s what we’ll get from the Minister.
Can the Minister inform the House what type of census or controlled survey occurs in the Northwest Territories that monitors and reports on tobacco purchase, use, tax collection and audits on a yearly basis? Where can one find all this information publicly? Thank you.
I listened to many issues raised in the Member’s statement and his questions and his interest in getting a lot of detailed information, so I’ll take that question as notice. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
