Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We obviously are making a lot of decisions here about our future, and we are dealing with issues as a result of previous governments that have made decisions that are affecting our current situation. What is this government doing to establish long term financial benefits from the investment in or from the use of our resources, such as diamonds and oil and gas? What efforts are we putting in to establishing a heritage fund for our future?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of a heritage fund has been now around the Legislature since at least the 15th Assembly. We’ve raised this issue. I raised it at the round table. It was raised in my fiscal overview of the government. Work is underway to come forward with a discussion paper to lay out some of the options for a heritage fund that would be, I would suggest, set up by statute, by legislation. There are some very strong models to look at. We have the Norway model. We have the Alaska model. We looked at what Alberta has done. Pick the best and come forward with a discussion paper.
Clearly, there’s a recognition that we have to start saving for the future. We have to think past the life of each particular Assembly. If all of us had gone through our working lives without having forced savings, when it came time to retire, we would have no pensions, because we’d have spent every cent we have today. We have to think of our grandchildren and future generations. This government is very interested in working with the Assembly to come forward with what would be a good model for the Northwest Territories.
Thank you for those comments. If all interests and intentions, as the Minister has said, have been here since the 15th Assembly, I want to know what we are doing about getting this done. Currently this government is not shy about insisting and pressuring the assistance panel to make decisions on project developments. We are not shy about prejudging development projects as no-brainers. We can’t develop our resources fast enough. All of those benefits are leaving the Northwest Territories. We needed this fund established in the 15th Assembly. Here we are in the 16th. What are we doing to actually get it done?
In the next few weeks there will be a proposal brought forward for review. It is being worked on right now in Finance. We are very serious about this. There are clearly things we have to consider about such a fund, and we have to be prepared not only to establish it but to look at how we want to have some initial seed capital put in it at a time when we are struggling to make ends meet, as it were. But within the next few weeks there will be a document brought forward from Cabinet to committee so we can talk about the type of fund to set up, whether it should be in legislation and what the particulars of that type of legislation should be.
There we are talking about it again. I really want to get this fund established. I’m wondering if the government is investigating, for example, Norway’s special tax that ensures that excess profits from resource development companies go to the government for the benefit of the people or the production tax that’s used by the state of Alaska. What are we doing on the ground?
We are going to pull together a considered paper that’s going to be shared with the Regular Members, having heard very clearly once again in the House the need to communicate and consult before significant decisions are made. That work is underway, and we will be moving forward on that in the next number of weeks.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for those comments. It’s nice to hear that something is happening — still not sure what. We’re going to hear something in the next few weeks. What exactly are we going to hear in the next few weeks? And what will be the schedule for putting that in place, getting it done?
I am particularly taken with work that was done in Norway, the fact that they set up a fund in legislation that’s politically tamper proof. It’s not tied to consolidated general revenue. The parameters of what can be done to it, how it can be done are very clear. The money is kept separate, and all the petroleum, oil and gas revenues go into that fund.
There are other ones to look at. Alaska and Alberta are two. The biggest one in the world is Abu Dhabi, which is almost $800 billion. The one in Norway is about $380 billion. So there are things we can learn. We want to set up the best one, tailored for the North, which, I would suggest, we would want to have set up in legislation so that, in fact, it is separate and politically tamper proof, but that is a discussion we have yet to have.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
