Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are back. It is October 1, 2008. We are on the threshold of another northern winter. Something largely on the minds of almost every Northerner is the almost certain increase in the cost of living. News reports tell us that the cost of food is going up. Demand on a global basis exceeds supply, and prices will reflect these realities.
The price of crude oil is volatile, and we are vulnerable to economic issues far beyond the reach of our control. Home heating fuel and gasoline have seen record prices in recent weeks. In the North we are particularly affected, given our need to travel to regional centres for services and our need to import almost all of our food and supplies. There is a general rate application before the PUB for a 19 per cent increase in power rates, which will affect all of our communities and residents.
Although we speak longingly of recruiting and maintaining a strong northern workforce in the private and public sectors, the fact is that people, including Northerners, have lots of options as to where they live and work. We saw a net decrease in the population of the NWT according to our last census. This spells a decrease in transfer of funds from Canada as it relates to population. The U.S. and Canadian markets, and all markets for that matter, have been under extreme pressure related to the credit crises, and people are concerned about their investments that are intended to sustain them in their retirement.
With all of this as a backdrop and the many things that could be done to show leadership and give Northerners confidence in their government — in politics they say timing is everything — Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask: what are we doing? Why are we expending time and energy looking for new ways to increase taxes?
I have a question for our Premier and Finance Minister. Is it possible, by considering increased or new taxes, to be any further out of touch with the realities of the Northerners we claim to represent by embarking on this dialogue at this time?
Not to end this on a completely negative note, Mr. Speaker, we have oil, gas, minerals, cultivatable land, wildlife, fresh water, fish, forests. We need to look for every way possible to help our people help themselves. We are arguably the richest place left on this planet Earth, yet we are talking about how much we spend on direct subsidies to people. We need to help people to help themselves.
Mr. Speaker, we talk about a strong and independent North, and we need, as a government, to show some leadership in some small measures to help attain that.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome back to my colleagues. I am excited to be back in the House speaking about the issues that are important both to my constituents and the residents of the Northwest Territories.
I have spoken in the past in this House about the 3,300 migrant workers and the $330 million that leaves with them every year — a place where the government should be doing everything in its power to persuade these workers to live in the Northwest Territories. Not only do we need to attract workers here, but we must ensure that the people who are here are going to stay here. That the government would communicate a proposed new tax initiative or strategy without first having a thorough examination of its own programs and services is absurd. The easy target for government, Mr. Speaker, is the public. I know I won’t stand for that happening, nor will the public.
Why is this government so silent on these big ticket items? In case the government hasn’t heard — I know the Premier mentioned it in his sessional statement — there is an election going on, and someone over there should be jumping up and down demanding a deal. At the very least demand that the hundreds of jobs located in Ottawa pertaining to northern development, held by many people who have not even stepped foot north of 60, be transferred to Nunavut, the Yukon….
Mr. Ramsay, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
They should be demanding that the federal government transfer the jobs pertaining to northern development to the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. As I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, people equal money. If we continue on the track we’re on right now, we won’t have anyone left to tax, because everyone is going to be gone. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the challenges we face as MLAs is trying to choose our words very carefully. If I were to stand here and tell you exactly what the people in the Northwest Territories think about the proposed tax increases, I would be escorted from this Chamber in 30 seconds, and they are fighting that.
Good, hardworking people across the Northwest Territories continue to be hit or are proposed to be hit with tax increases. They tasked us as their MLAs to bring this forward and fight this issue on their behalf, and that’s what we have to do. On one hand, we form a cost-of-living committee to try and find ways to reduce the cost of living, and then on the other hand, we are proposing tax increases. I agree some tax increases need to be made, but you’re hitting the wrong people.
You’ve got resource companies, development companies up here bleeding us dry. They are paying Ottawa. What do we get out of this? Nothing. Nothing. They give us a transfer payment and say, “This is sufficient. Don’t bother us any more until next year.” People across the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, are becoming extremely frustrated. You hear from them. I think every one of us in here has had e-mails or conversations with folks who are really worried about this proposed tax increase.
We don’t benefit from everything that goes on in the Northwest Territories, and I am not going to pretend that we do. I am not going to sugar-coat anything, Mr. Speaker, because we don’t benefit. Until we get our house in order as the Northwest Territories, as leaders across the Northwest Territories, not just this government…. Part of the problem is the leaders across the Northwest Territories have to be leaders and take the next step and do what’s best for the people of the Northwest Territories, because we did make an oath.
I strongly urge this government to explore other revenue options and not continue to kick the good, hard-working people of the NWT — I repeat, of the NWT, not the 3,300 migrant workers who don’t pay anything — while they’re down. They have asked us to look after them, and we should take that responsibility very seriously. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, have heard from my constituents over the summer months, especially in the area of power rate increases, the high cost of energy and the high fuel prices in our communities. More important is the cost of living in regard to sustaining individuals in these high cost communities. A lot of our communities lack programs and services. In some cases there is no service. We don’t have nurses; we don’t have police.
Mr. Speaker, also realize that we have to ensure that we take care of the infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. A lot has been said over the summer months about the condition of the Dempster Highway. We were promised in this House this spring that we were going to do everything we can to ensure that public safety is a factor, but again the roads have been in very poor condition this summer.
One of the biggest issues that is still out there is the cost of living for residents in our communities when it comes to income support, housing subsidy programs and the consolidation that took place. That issue is one of the most pressing in our communities. To top it all off, the icing on the cake came when this government announced the tax initiatives that will again affect the cost of living of the residents of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t support all these initiatives. The only one I support is something that was here in the 13th Assembly. I think that if we had taken care of it then, we probably would have seen some revenues from the resource industry by way of a resource tax. Again, here I state that I do support that initiative, but the rest of them can go.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public is passing judgment today, and they’re saying that these new tax initiatives are the last straw. From what I see, the motto of this Finance Minister is “tax first, ask questions later.” I encourage the Minister to listen very carefully, because you can hear the caravan of people exiting the Territories. If Mr. Miltenberger has his way, that’s what we’ll see.
In the past couple of weeks I’ve had my fill from the public, hearing their concerns about this Minister trying to fix our financial problems with more taxes. They have had it. They’re his ideas, and I’ll tell you, they’re not mine. The problem is — and I say to the Finance Minister to listen very carefully — the government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We don’t need new taxes. We need someone with some real imagination over there.
If Mr. Miltenberger had his way, everything suggested on his list would affect every person’s basic cost of living. That means milk, butter, heating oil, and don’t forget the power bill. Don’t get me started on the health care premiums. I can clearly see this Finance Minister has been getting sensitivity training from Revenue Canada, which is not the way to go.
Mr. Speaker, the only surprise I have on this initiative is that it wasn’t released at Christmastime. As I look it over, you can clearly see they have no direction. You can clearly see that over at the Finance department no one understands bread and butter economics. What they’ve chosen is a path to destroy our economy, not to help it.
With power rates spiking, home heating going up, what is the next straw? There will not be one, because no one will be here. Let me tell you: good financial policies will encourage investment, and they will certainly help our tax base grow. They will help businesses create employment. By the way, just in case you’re not listening, that means more taxes, naturally. More people working will help this territory far more than putting the thumbscrews to the cost of living of the average person, who’s had it. Every additional person, as it’s been said here today, can add at least $20,000 from our federal grant. That doesn’t even take into consideration the spending this generates.
At this time I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Mr. Speaker, let me give this Finance Minister a lesson. If we encouraged 2,000 people to our territory, that would cover our shortfall. By the way, that means 60 people per community. We can encourage a grow with the North policy, as opposed to taxing them to death. Let’s start on some of those migrant workers, as has been articulated clearly here.
In closing, the financial gaps are big; imagination is low. As one person told me yesterday, it’s time that we start showing some backbone with some mineral tax instead of milk tax. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
