I am taking a big breath, Mr. Speaker. The Member is asking where the truth is in the statement. I don’t know where he’s heading with that. He has his own beliefs as to where we should go as a government, and my stance is on positions I put forward.
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that our economy and the heating of our homes in the present day require resources. We have those resources in the Northwest Territories. In fact, we have resources that would help the climate change initiative if we were to switch to alternative natural gas instead of home heating oil, for example, and diesel fuel for generation of electricity through power plants.
When you look at the opportunities that come with that and the opportunities that the aboriginal business corporations are involved with now and want to be involved with…. They’re looking to take part in activities that would see development in the Northwest Territories.
Yes, as a government we need to also take the necessary steps, and we are. We will be coming forward with the business plans with a significant investment package that would see us start investing in alternatives rather than maintaining the status quo. We’re starting to do that, but we do live in an environment that requires resources. The world is hungry for them, and we need revenues to operate government programs. If we can’t reduce, we can’t tax people. We need economic development, and we have that potential in the North. That’s simply what’s being stated.
To me that clearly shows a lack of understanding about what the costs are of these sorts of developments when we do not have the ability to levy the taxes and the oil fees that we require to get those benefits.
I ask the Premier: given the rate at which we’re mining our diamonds and shipping them out of the Northwest Territories, and along with that the labour to develop that and so on, does the Premier think we’re getting maximum benefit from our current mining of diamonds and the complete using up of this resource as fast as we can?
Again, we do have to operate with what we have available under our authority as the Government of the Northwest Territories, but the facts will speak for themselves. Prior to any significant reinvestment and capital projection in the Northwest Territories by the private sector, which drove up our GDP as the fastest growing jurisdiction in Canada for a number of years, the fact is that our corporate income tax has grown significantly since the business has taken part in the Northwest Territories. In fact, our personal income tax has grown through the revenue base because we have more people on the job in the Northwest Territories.
Those are facts that would speak for themselves, that there are some benefits that do accrue to the Northwest Territories. On top of that, through the aboriginal organizations and governments, they’ve signed socio-economic agreements, or IBAs, as well, that have the direct benefit that we can’t measure.
Yes, we need to get more from the development of our resources. That’s why devolution and resource revenue sharing is there and, in fact, why part of the discussion paper does highlight the fact that we can introduce new taxes in the Northwest Territories, but that would require new legislation.
Again, what are the real benefits we’re getting? I’m not questioning that we’re getting some benefits here, but we need to weigh those benefits against the cost. I see the costs accelerating faster than the benefits: 500 homeless women in the city of Yellowknife. This didn’t happen a number of years ago, for example, before the diamond development.
I’d like to know what this Premier is going to do to get a real grasp on benefits and costs and to develop local economies. What is the Premier going to do, Mr. Speaker, to develop local economies in ways that truly benefit our residents and not necessarily the large corporations that are funnelling our resources out as fast as they can at the maximum rate possible with minimum benefit to the Northerners?
Mr. Speaker, our first budget starts the plan of investing in communities and in the people of the Northwest Territories, whether it is making sure that they can take the jobs that workers now take or whether it is the fact that we’re going to help aboriginal corporations enter into the business economy that is out there. There are a whole number of things that we are doing as the Government of the Northwest Territories through those strategic initiatives that will have a positive impact as we progress.
Mr. Speaker, we can also look back at when industry shut down on us. I’ll use the Mackenzie Delta. We’ve got a number of times the pipeline was talked about and shut down. What was left there? There was no economy, but there was still the homelessness issue. There was still the fact that people could not afford to live in their communities and they came to government for support.
So, Mr. Speaker, the facts do speak. We have benefited residents of the Northwest Territories, and income support levels, for example, can even show that. When there’s an economy, there is less of a draw on that side of the equation. We have to come up with the right balance through a transition phase. There’s still going to be a drive to develop those resources in the framework, and we’re trying to change that as best as we can.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier is again ignoring the opportunities we have to develop our local economies. The reason places like Beau-Del are left high and dry, so to speak, when the oil and gas industry leave, is that we have not developed those local economies. We are totally dependent on this export economy. We need to develop appropriately scaled businesses that deal with our basic needs.
How is the Premier going to ensure that the next time the oil and gas industry leaves, these communities, small communities, are left with a vibrant economy?
Mr. Speaker, I think this also reflects more on the idea of devolution. People of the North who call us — those born here, raised here; those who moved here and now call it home — have more say in how we do things in the North. This Assembly can direct how we spend the budget dollars we approve in this Assembly. This Assembly, Members of this Assembly, not just me, can say if we should in fact aggressively pursue an agriculture policy that the Member spoke about earlier and put that in place and if we should be part of the fish marketing group or if we should step out on our own and develop our own economy in that way.
Again, the North is riddled with history here, where we took independent people, who were able to fend for themselves and provide for themselves, and developed programs because somebody from outside of the Territories and the country said, “You need to change things; don’t do it that way anymore,” and our fur trapping industry went down. It shut down vibrant economies and communities in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, while that was happening, the people adapted and started going to a wage economy. Now we are saying: “Wait a second. Let’s not look into that economy. Let’s look at other things.” I agree we need to look at other things, and this Assembly through the membership here has the authority to direct in these areas.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is in regard to process. Are we going to spend a ton of money looking at forms and consultation and legislative drafters? That all costs money. I think that as a government right now, as we all hear, we don’t have much of it.
As a government we’ve already instituted legislation by way of resource pacts. That was done back in the 13th Assembly. It was drafted and ready to go. It had a hotel tax that went through a whole, thorough review. It was drafted and drafted, ready for the House.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, this is not going to be a long, protracted, hugely expensive process. It’s going to conclude October 15, and we’re going to spend a few weeks pulling it all together so that we’re ready for when we start in mid-November with the business planning process.
Yes, there was work done on a mining tax. It was preliminary work in nature, but we’re going to look at all the options that are there. We’re going to come forward with our best recommendations and proposals in terms of revenue options, reductions and then potential tax increases.
Mr. Speaker, around the House since the 13th Assembly…. We had initiatives by the Ministers of Finance back then. We had Mr. Handley do the initiative in regard to a hotel tax. That took a whole process of consultation, public hearings, the whole works. At the end of it all it didn’t even proceed to the House.
Because of the experience we’ve had in the past on these legislative initiatives looking at tax reform, we should learn from our mistakes and not waste public funds on doing stuff that we know is not going to fly. Already, from the public outcry that we hear….
I’d like to ask the Minister again: would you consider bringing forward those legislative initiatives that have already been worked on in regard to tax initiatives to the Members of this House so we can debate it in this House and also give us an opportunity to see where the support is on this side of the House so that we don’t waste a lot of public funds?
We will come forward with the full package for committee’s review, what we think is viable and what we think is not. We’re going to come forward with the options in terms of being able to, we believe, grow the population in a modest but significant way that’s going to add to our economic base over time.
In addition, we’re going to come forward, as Members know, with year 2 of the reduction exercise. We’re prepared, and we’re going to have that full discussion with committee, looking for their advice and feedback.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to our Premier, Floyd Roland, who is the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corp. I’d like to ask our Premier today: have the power rates in the Northwest Territories ever gone down?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the NWT Power Corporation goes before the Public Utilities Board, it does put in for requests, whether it’s a general rate rider or a rate application and approval. There are times when within the PUB’s overview of what’s being asked, rate riders are put in place. When those rate riders come to their time allocation, they’re backed out of the equation.
For example, the ones that are being looked for now are looking at a timeline of potentially 18 months. They potentially have the impact of about $12 on the average consumer across the Northwest Territories. There’s the example of when it goes down, but the general trend has been upward.
I didn’t really hear the answer. I heard that if the rate rider they want doesn’t get approved, it has to be taken back. It’s seen as a shell game that appears as if it went down, but it didn’t. My question really is, once again: have the actual base rates, including the riders, et cetera, over the long term actually gone up or gone down?
Maybe the Member’s cold is affecting his hearing.
I did say that the long term has been a general trend upward through that. When the Power Corporation, for example, Mr. Speaker, goes out for a resupply on fuel in our most remote northern communities, we end up paying the price at delivery. Then when we don’t have enough dollars to meet the requirements, we have to put an application in for general rate application changes.
Over the years the trend has been, as with everything else in the North, a higher cost, whether it’s employees we have to pay because we need to keep them on site or the cost of fuel or replacement of assets that either come into disrepair through age or fire sometimes.
Mr. Speaker, now that we’ve clearly defined that power rates haven’t gone down, wouldn’t you think that management bonuses would be tied or reflective of the direction that the rate is going?
Let’s draw a direct comparison to the Government of the Northwest Territories and our public service. The fact is that every year it costs us more money. Whether or not there’s an increased workload, a new negotiated settlement drives up our costs. Those that are within the purview or the benefit of that are affected.
Some people are not within that, so we make these allowances so that they’re adjusted. But we have a competitive process we need to be in, and we try to adjust accordingly. The Power Corporation, as I stated earlier, has gone outside to review how it deals with the merit pay situation. Again, because they are at arm’s length, part of that process is incorporated under reviewing the costs of doing business with the PUB when they do go forward for substantiation of increased costs.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Why aren’t bonuses tied to rate increases? In other words, if rate increases keep going up, why do bonuses keep going up? Why do bonuses keep getting awarded?
For the record I should state that in my initial takeover of this file I have asked the question about bonuses and what’s being done and have requested further information.
The simple fact is that when you look at corporations across the country, there are processes in place that are governed by policies that are established on what can and can’t be done. I can share in the discontent of Members of this House with the board to say that should be one of the last things that gets reviewed, but it is part of a process that’s been in place for years. We have to be competitive in what we’re trying to do.
As we’re doing this — and I’ll commit to Members here — the whole process of how we deliver energy, through electrical generation to delivery to the structure of the Power Corporation…. I met with the board and I told them that the fact we’re passing on the cost of living to individuals means we can’t leave any rock unturned in reviewing how we deliver programs and deliver electricity in the Northwest Territories. I’ve passed that message on, and we’re going to have a look at how we do things in the Northwest Territories around power generation and delivery.
Mr. Speaker, I have returns for the following written questions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Supplementary Appropriation No. 2, 2008–2009. I further wish to table my Return to Written Question 25-6(2), entitled Budgets for the Department of Executive Regional Offices, and Return to Written Question 33-16(2), entitled GNWT Subsidies by Community.
Document 75-16(2), Supplementary Appropriation No. 2, 2008–2009, tabled.
Document 76-16(2), Budgets for the Department of Executive Regional Offices, tabled.
Document, 77-16(2), GNWT Subsidies by Community, tabled.
Mr. Speaker, further to my Return to Written Question 19-16(2) I wish to table the following document entitled 2008 Summer Student Employment Start Dates.
Document 78-16(2), 2008 Summer Student Employment Start Dates, tabled.
Mr. Speaker, further to my Return to Written Question 34-16(2) I wish to table the following two documents entitled 2008–2009 Position Reductions and Summary of Active Positions and Growth. Thank you.
Document 79-16(2), 2008–2009 Position Reductions, tabled.
Document 80-16(2), Summary of Active Positions and Growth, tabled.
