Thank you, Minister and thank you to our witnesses. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. Committee, we need to consider Bill 20. We have a few clauses that we had left out, so does committee agree that we can finish with the remainder of clauses?
Agreed.
Okay. Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act. We have done up to clause 12, so now, clause 13. Does committee agree?
---Clauses 13 through 17 inclusive approved
Committee, to the bill as a whole. Does committee agree that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act is now ready for third reading. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act.
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Mr. Norn, what is the wish of committee?
Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.
The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
I will now rise and report progress.
Mr. Speaker, we've been really busy. Your committee has been considering Tabled Document 349-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2020-2021; Tabled Document 348-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2020-2021; Committee Report 12-19(2), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Chief Electoral Officer's Report on the Administration of the 2019 Territorial General Election; and Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act. I would like to report progress with five motions carried, that Committee Report 12-19(2) is concluded, that Bill 20 is ready for third reading, and that consideration of Tabled Document 348-19(2) and Tabled Document 349-19(2) is concluded, the House concurs in those estimates, and that an appropriation bill to be based thereon be introduced without delay. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have a seconder? Member for Hay River North. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for the Sahtu, that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Public Highways Act, be read for the third time, and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Mahsi.
The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Hay River North, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Frame Lake, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, the Member for Nahendeh, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise. The results of the recorded vote: 15 in favour, zero opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Bill 3 has had its third reading. Third reading of bills. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Apprenticeship, Trades and Occupational Certification Act, be read for the third time, and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.
To the motion.
Question.
The Member for Hay River North, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Frame Lake, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, the Member for Nahendeh, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise. The results of the recorded vote: 15 in favour, zero opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Bill 12 has had its third reading. Third reading of bills. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 13, An Act to Amend the Interpretation Act, be read for the third time, and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
The Member for Hay River North, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Frame Lake, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, the Member for Nahendeh, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise. The results of the recorded vote: 15 in favour, zero opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Bill 13 has had its third reading. Third reading of bills. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Securities Act, be read for the third time, and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
The Member for Hay River North, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Frame Lake, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, the Member for Nahendeh, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise. Thank you. The results of the recorded vote: 15 in favour, zero opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Bill 14 has had its third reading. Third reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the third time, and, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Most Members will know that I am a man of principle, and I am going to stand on principle today with regard to this bill. Look, I support small business. You heard me earlier today make a Member's statement in support of the tourism sector. I spend a lot of my time in the south supporting small business. I am concerned, though, about the lack of effort on the part of my Cabinet colleagues to actually deal with the revenue side of our financial situation. I just don't really detect that there is much effort in a lot of work that is being done on the revenue side.
In discussing the bill here on the floor and in committee, I know now, and the public knows, that we are going to lose revenues as a result of this. We are going to lose $1.4 million, but there is no effort being made whatsoever to try to replace that revenue. I made a couple of suggestions to the Minister: increasing the number of tax brackets for personal income tax, or even continuing the rental charges in the current exploration licence for Husky Oil into the significant discovery licence; easy ways to, I think, and certainly the second one, come up with the lost revenues here.
Perhaps even more importantly, for me, Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of fairness. I asked the Minister very clearly: why are we doing this? The response was so that we could remain competitive. We wanted to be in line with other jurisdictions. I don't detect that that fairness principle or concept is being applied across all of our tax regime. We have cherry-picked one item to make us all look very popular, and I just don't think that that's an appropriate way to go. I don't think it's even good financial management.
For all of those kinds of reasons, Mr. Speaker, I am going to vote against this bill. If some want to characterize this as me being anti-business, let them go ahead. This is about tax fairness and making sure that we replace the revenue and that we apply that concept of fairness across all of our taxation. The last thing I want to say is that this will not benefit businesses right now because it only takes effect on January 1st of this year. It's not going to help businesses with a big part of what happened with the pandemic. Maybe they'll get some tax savings at the end of this year. That would be helpful for them, but this is not about pandemic relief. Mr. Speaker, for all of those reasons, I will be voting against the bill. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
The Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Nahendeh, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Hay River North, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
All those opposed, please rise.
The Member for Frame Lake.
All those abstaining, please rise. The results of the recorded vote: 14 in favour, one opposed, zero abstentions. The motion is carried.
---Carried
