Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, it’s funny. I keep hearing about this business planning process. It’s almost the same excuse I give my kids when they say: Daddy, buy me this; buy me this. I say: wait till Christmas; wait till Christmas. Everything from this side of the Cabinet is: oh, don’t worry; wait for the business planning process; it will take care of everything. I cannot wait for the business planning process. We are going to be so busy.

Mr. Speaker, if the Minister is too nervous or unwilling to say, “No, I don’t know what to say,” would he give us a clear answer and tell us and show...

Mr. Speaker, there are also other places — Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec — that do this. I would look to the Minister and ask him where he is putting protection again. Is he putting it in the hands of protecting the producer, or is he going to look at finally putting it in the hands of the consumers?

You know, the choice is very clear. We can create consumer confidence, and that’s our job, here, to do this. So I ask the Minister again: will he review this file and take a look at the situation? If we do one single thing for protecting consumers, that’s the best thing we can do on this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Northerners are reeling from the increased costs of gas, diesel and home heating fuel and are fearful for what this winter will bring. Not only does it cost more to put gas in our vehicles and to heat our homes, but these sky rocketing fuel prices are affecting and impacting the everyday cost of living of all Northerners. As a result of these high fuel prices, we are living with increases in electricity, food and other goods and services.

The bottom line is that this government needs to stand up for Northerners and protect them by introducing regulations that monitor and...

Mr. Speaker, I like how the Minister coins “market forces at play,” and I’m always interested in how market forces seem to be at play when you don’t get new fuel supply. The iceroad is not working; the ferry is not working, but those little fix-it things flapping around with the new price, and higher and higher and higher — that’s all market force? I think market force at play is called competition, not gouging.

Can this Minister today commit to putting something on the table right now that proves we’re protecting the consumer and we are showing that the consumers are not being protected and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to refer my questions back to my Member’s statement today, when I talked about regulation of our fuels here in the Northwest Territories. My questions will be directed to the Minister of Finance, who had asked me earlier to give him a reprieve on cost of living and tax questions. So my questions will be focused on fuel regulation.

This fuel regulation is something that will help balance the equation where fuel prices are high and consumer protection is low. I’d like to know what this Minister of Finance is doing to make sure we can bring fuel regulation to the...

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be little effort to go and attract new investment. It talks about playing with the tax numbers, but it wasn’t that long ago that we had people go out and look for businesses to file their taxes in the North. That has actually led to problems because we haven’t created a stable tax base. So what is this Finance Minister doing to attract big tax filers to come to the North and file their taxes in the North, and will we be the beneficiary of those corporate taxes that they pay?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know what? A lot of people want to know how much this is going to cost when they find out what a waste of time has been conceded by Cabinet. I mean, you could have spent a lot of time…. Just an extra meeting with Regular Members to say that these are the good ideas you should maybe take to the public. We’re not saying that it has to be these ideas, but we’re saying these are the ones that I’m sure they’ll be willing to listen to.

So how much is this little fiasco going to cost the general public to just hear no, no, no? Thank you.

It’s nice to see, for a change, that the other side of the House is listening to our side of the House, but I don’t seem to remember seeing a fuel tax. I remember a sales tax in that list.

Mr. Speaker, I think I heard from the Finance Minister’s little special speech there, which he had seemingly prepared, that he recited carbon tax and resource tax. Why aren’t you putting your focus into those ones that we suggested as opposed to some of these red herrings, such as sales tax? You’re really wasting our time, your time and the public’s time. Why didn’t he do that?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to the Assembly Elder Samuel George and Elder Jeff Anderson. They are missionaries doing good work in our community. My wife and I have had the pleasure to get to know them while they are here. Elder George is from Utah, I believe, and Elder Anderson is from Idaho, if I am correct. Anyway, they are here to do good work in our community.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said yesterday, the problem with this government is it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and it continues to be obvious more so even today. I only wish there were a program like the Tree of Peace to send the Finance Minister to, to make sure he understands that, but we don’t.

So it’s about time this government realizes that you could lower the cost of living in government and do business better at the same time without raising taxes. We need someone over there on that Cabinet side of this building to understand that we don’t need new taxes.

Again, Mr...