Bill Braden

Thank you. An area that I'm hearing a little bit more on from some people in Yellowknife, and certainly there is a lot of traffic on the national media, Mr. Chairman, is in the skyrocketing rates of tuition and the expenses that students incur as they go about their post-secondary education. I would like to see if the Minister could tell us what are we doing to keep pace with this. I know, for instance, that we have certain caps on the amount that we provide for tuition. As generous as they are, we might be losing pace here. I'm wondering if the Minister could tell us are we monitoring...

Okay. So if we had the money, we would do it right away. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On the revenue side of taxation, I would just like some clarification. Do the numbers posted here reflect the increases that would come, pending approval of the taxation measures that the Minister has proposed? Are those numbers reflected in the projection here? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a pleasure today to recognize four constituents that I know in the Assembly today; of course, Ms. Nancy Trotter; Paul Christopher of the NWT Wrestling Federation; my constituency assistant, Mr. John Argue; and, our royalty in waiting, Mr. Speaker, Mildred Wilke. Thank you.

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Thank you. That helps answer a question there, that we have made at least a technical decision. Okay, everything is going up in cost. As we continue to delay or defer this, the sense that I have is that this is not really an option for us. We're going to have to bite the bullet on this. For every year that we put this off, Mr. Chairman, how much more is it costing us? What's the inflation rate on this stuff? Are we unnecessarily deferring or delaying this necessary decision? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of areas of detailed enquiry, but I will save them until we get to the appropriate part in the budget, Mr. Chairman. I did want to ask though of a reference the Minister made in his opening comments to continuing to invest in some software upgrades to our existing financial information system to keep it functional while a decision regarding its replacement is pending. We're going to spend almost $200,000 on these interim software upgrades, Mr. Chairman.

It's something that I know came before committee, I think in at least the last two years of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I referred to a study on the national child benefit supplement, and I would like to table the document this morning offered by Alternatives North called “Stop the NWT Clawback of the National Child Tax Benefit Supplement.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. During the Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray two weeks ago, I was proud to accept the invitation of the Honourable Henry Zoe to help represent the NWT and this Assembly. The three days that I spent there were actually the sixth chance that I've had to be at an Arctic Winter Games, Mr. Speaker; three times as a reporter; twice as a volunteer; and this time as a representative of this government. That goes back to the very first time the games were staged here in Yellowknife 34 years ago.

I was impressed, Mr. Speaker, not only with the calibre of our...

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a couple of things I would like to follow through on, starting with a few things that Minister Roland told us about in his opening remarks. Specifically to the information he provided saying among the priorities for the coming year are going to be identifying the issues to be considered in a possible review of the Liquor Act. This is something that this government should be looking at as a fairly high priority, Madam Chair. The Liquor Act has been around for some time now and I have a sense from amongst people who are clients, if you will -- Liquor Act...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the explanation, it is a multi-layered issue. The Minister explained that one of the core principles that the federal government had behind this is it wanted to help stimulate development and inclusion in the workforce, but our program, our own income support program, recognizes that staying at home to raise a family is recognized as a productive choice, just as productive to our society as being out there working. So does it not stand to reason, Mr. Speaker, that income support clients who make this productive choice should be entitled to the full...