Merci, Monsieur le President. In July 2021, the Minister of Finance was undertaking public budget consultations. I want to compliment the Minister for this important initiative, which has happened in each of the last three years. Despite urging from Regular MLAs, the last Minister did not do this.
For the 2021 budget consultation or dialogue, the Minister of Finance posted a revenue options discussion paper just the day before public engagements. I would certainly encourage that the discussion paper be refreshed, with a more balanced approach to taxation, and be released well in advance of any meetings.
I am quite concerned about what it will cost us to ensure our residents in Hay River can recover quickly and fairly from the devastating flood in May, the need to rebuild GNWT infrastructure there, and any further preventative measures such as relocations or diking. With inflation running at 6.8 percent nationally and 7.1 percent here in Yellowknife compared to April 2021, we must find more revenues to maintain the same programs and services.
In the past I've suggested a number of ways to raise more revenues including:
Adding at least one more high-income tax bracket to personal income tax;
A capital tax on financial institutions as we are one of only five jurisdictions in Canada without such a tax;
Raising more revenues from mining royalties which are comparatively low against most other regimes; and
Negotiating a new fiscal relationship with Ottawa where we get to keep more, if not all, of our own source revenues.
The current fiscal path is completely unsustainable. Now is the time to examine our core values of sharing, justice, equity, and whether these are truly reflected in our revenue efforts as we recover and rebuild.
Another way to spend more on our programs is to reduce our capital spending. As shown in the supplementary appropriation we just dealt with, we could not spend the money in the last capital budget. We need to become more realistic and focused on those projects that provide real benefits to our people, especially housing.
I will have questions later today for the Minister of Finance on preparations for Budget 20232024 later today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.
