Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of PWS, the Minister responsible for petroleum products. In the last session I asked the Minister if he would look at some way that would help out the hunters and trappers with the pricing of fuel in our small communities. I want to ask the Minister if he had done some research as to if that’s possible to give a break to the trappers and hunters in the small communities on the pricing of their fuel.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Glen Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated previously, the way the gas prices are determined in communities where Public Works and Services is responsible for the fuel, is we buy the fuel, we ship the fuel, then we add a little bit of profit on top of that for the people that are distributing it in the communities, and then there are, obviously, taxes.
I did take the Member’s question and I did share the comments in my… I did have a conversation with ITI. I haven’t got an answer on that. What I will do is commit to having another discussion with the Minister of ITI to see what there is. Given the gas prices that we have in the small communities, the only place to move is taxes, which is an area that we can’t move on, or the profit for the local vendors, which I don’t think anybody wants us to move on in the small communities. We will certainly have that conversation.
I appreciate the Minister’s flexibility to look at ways that we could look at and that there’s no guarantee. I want to ask the Minister, there are two pricings in our small community: one with government, and non-government. I’m asking that because the government rate is lower than the non-government, I believe, that the hunters and trappers can use that system. I’m just asking if that’s a possibility with Cabinet if they can go that route, specifically for trappers and hunters in our communities.
The difference in prices between government and non-government users of the fuel in the small communities is basically the GST. The Government of the Northwest Territories does not pay GST but everybody else is going to be required to pay GST. We’ll have that discussion, but at this point I’m not sure that we’re going to be able to reduce or eliminate GST for our non-government customers.
If the Minister could look at that with his colleague and find ways that it’s possible for our hunters and trappers to be covered under that structure of pricing, then it would be greatly appreciated by hunters and trappers that they would buy their fuel at a reduced cost. It costs quite a bit to operate a trapline in our communities. If the Minister could look at that once again, I would appreciate it.
Absolutely I’ll have those discussions with the Minister of ITI, but I don’t want to set any false expectations. Not paying GST is not likely going to be a possibility.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Minister to look at another word we should scrap, if possible, out of our dictionary and look at the possibilities. Possibly look at all the different types of avenues as to how to help our trappers and hunters in our communities where the price is extraordinarily high for them. We encourage traditional economies. I’d ask the Minister if he would possibly look at the possibilities that this government can do to help our hunters and trappers.
Before you answer that, Mr. Abernethy, when I say short supplementary, it’s a short supplementary. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated, we will look at it and I’m fond of looking outside of the box and trying to find solutions where possible, but we have to be realistic about some of the challenges that we’re facing, so absolutely, we’ll look at this. I’ll talk with my colleague and we’ll think outside the box to see if there are any possibilities, but I won’t guarantee any at this point in time.
