Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance, who is going to be up on his feet again. Strange how that works out some days; one Minister gets them all.
My statement talked about Small Business Week and I mentioned a number of recommendations from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business to the Government of the Northwest Territories to try and help small business get ahead and to try and lessen some of the imposition on their bottom line. The first one was that our small business tax rate is one of the highest in northern and western Canada and the recommendation from CFIB is that we should reduce taxes to small business and reduce it from 4 percent to zero. That might be a bit over the top, but I would like to ask the Minister what has this government done or what is this government willing to do to reduce tax rates for small business. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve done a significant amount of work to work with small business. We have all of the services provided through the BDIC where we have a capital there, especially available in communities where banking services aren’t necessarily available. We’ve spent a significant amount of money putting in service officers, the one stop shopping, so we’re available to all folks in the communities.
We have, in addition to the regional support and community support provided by ITI and their business arm and the work provided by the BDIC, we have our e-business strategy. We’ve put a BizPal program in place. We do consultations, and we have been doing consultations on the Economic Development Strategy that the Minister of ITI is working on where we’ve gone across the North looking for specific feedback, advice on what things need to be done in terms to have a successful Economic Development Strategy. We’ve, as well, been in contact with the chamber. In fact, we’ve also asked the Canadian Federation of Independent Business to give us very specific examples of what type of red tape is there in government that we could look at fixing so that we can become more efficient.
Finally, I point out that as we do this analysis of red tape, we should keep it in mind that every place is not the same, and in the Northwest Territories the amount of regulations we have to run our businesses is half, on average, of what is required in other jurisdictions. That alone is I think a significant recognition that while we may have some red tape and obstacles, we are pretty responsible and responsive. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for answering my second question and ignoring the first, I think. I did ask the Minister what this government has done to help to reduce taxes for small business. Red tape is also an issue, but I’d like to ask him again, is there any intention of this government to help small business by reducing taxes?
As a government, we haven’t raised income tax, corporate taxes, business taxes for well over a decade, and we intend to hold the line on that as well. We have been working very hard not to increase the cost to do business. The tax rate in the Northwest Territories is 4 percent, and that’s worth about $4 million a year. The issue, as we’ve heard in this House as we debate things like capital and the lack of revenue, that if we’re going to consider any kind of revenue offsets lost because of tax cuts, we have to, before we do that, anticipate where we’re going to get that replacement revenue or what programs we would be prepared to cut in order to obtain that tax cut. We’re not in a position nor are we preparing to look at any tax cuts at this point, given the concern about our revenues.
Thanks to the Minister. I realize it’s a double-edged sword. I totally understand if we cut taxes, we’re also going to be cutting our own revenue. I thank the Minister for that response.
With regard to the red tape, it is something which CFIB is on about, not just in the North but I think right across the country, and I appreciate the Minister’s explanation of all the things we do provide. But I believe it was over a year ago that this government, I think, through the Premier, made a statement that we were going to do something about cutting red tape. I didn’t hear from the Minister that we have made any improvement in our red tape. We’ve asked CFIB, but when did we ask them, how long have we been waiting for an answer and what have we done in the interim when we said we would do something?
I’ve been meeting with the CFIB quite regularly and the general response is just that, a general response or chastisement that we’ve got to do more. We’ve written to the territorial chamber as well. We’re looking for specifics from people outside of government looking in to tell us what are the specific things that we need. We’ve tried to improve how we dispense licences, fees and applications. We’re looking at that list that I already read out to the Member, and we’re continuing to work through eFolks and government on ways we can be more efficient as a government, and that includes decentralizing positions so we can get closer to the people on the ground, in the communities and the businesses. But we do need assistance other than a general exhortation about cut red tape. We just need to know so we’re on target. Give us some specific things we can go to work on in addition to what we think.
Thank you, Michael Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. It’s too bad you can’t say that to the Ministers. My last question, Mr. Speaker, has to do with the comment, well, the statement by CFIB about the shortage of qualified labour. Their suggestion is for a training tax credit for small business, and I’d appreciate the Minister’s comment on the feasibility of that for our NWT small businesses.
Our focus has been to put our resources not into those types of tax cuts or credits but to look at putting training programs in place that we can be there to assist communities, individuals and businesses so that they actually have some place to go. So it’s just not a credit but more of a structure, a bigger critical mass that allows us to provide a broader range of service across the North.
Thank you, Michael Miltenberger. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
