Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One question I think that's fairly brief. The Minister advises that we're going to be exceeding with this supp, the 2003-04 supplementary reserve, and as a result the operating result will be impacted by the million dollar difference. For the record, could the Minister advise what is the normal amount that we would start out with as a reserve? What has caused us to use it all up and, in fact, exceed it? Will the $50 million adjustment that we've just found out about actually change anything in the operating results? Thank you. I would appreciate some...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can’t speak in favour of this. I am satisfied that the information presented to us justifies that 14 percent is a realistic tax level, and that the increase of two percent is not excessive. I guess what convinces me of this is that if we go from 12 to 13 percent we are just sort of tweaking and tinkering here, we are not giving ourselves the margin that I would be satisfied with to know that we are not going to continue to be in a negative revenue situation. I think 14 percent is realistic because it gives us a buffer. That being said, that is my comment. Thank...

How many corporations do we anticipate will be captured in this as large corporate taxpayers? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So now we have other information, other circumstances, and even though it's only the space of a couple of years we are, I feel, compelled to reverse that situation and go with the 14 percent rate.

I've said it several times before and it's a message, I think, that's worth repeating. Anything that our government does to increase the cost of living or the cost of doing business in the NWT has to be considered very, very carefully. There are so many other cost drivers here that we have no control over that put the crimp on people, on their families and on their...

Okay. How many, 30 hours? Twenty eight hours left in the month, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Alright, we still have a day to go, maybe we will play around with this one tomorrow.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Will the Minister recommend other than "industrial standards" for land that may be used for residential areas?

Will the Minister consult with the City of Yellowknife in the determination of reclamation standards?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is fine, that is all. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, then to the business community doing business with this government, and we are a major part of the economy here, how then do I take that kind of an explanation and work it into my business plan so that I know that there’s going to be some consistency, some predictability, some stability to how I operate my business and how I do business with the GNWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am just trying to do the math quickly here. It looks like about 15 percent. Are we adding about 15 percent to the previous estimate?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Premier. They relate to the whole area of our government’s application of policy and the measures by which we apply that. It was interesting yesterday afternoon, Mr. Speaker, in response to a question from my colleague, Mr. Hawkins, that the Premier said the following, and I quote from the unedited Hansard, “Mr. Speaker, I have to say that policies are policies. They’re general directions and guidelines. They’re not one of the Ten Commandments. They’re not laws. There is room for some exception there where we can warrant it.” So I...