Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is on some of the statements in the sessional statement presented by our Premier. I’d like to start by briefly saying that we want to “develop our vast oil and natural gas resources as soon as possible to the maximum benefit of Northerners.”
To me this is an absolute oxymoron; this is the definition of an oxymoron. They do not go together. We have no ability to levy royalties and so on. Can the Premier explain to me where he sees the truth in that statement?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
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.
