Bill Braden

Okay. I think I’m going to want to park this one for now, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to go back and do a bit more investigation into that. The terminology is important to me. Whether it’s rate or base rate gives it considerable flexibility and I’ll come back to the core of my line of questioning which was universality. If there is going to be some kind of a temporary cost-induced increase for some power customers in the NWT and we’re going to rescue them, why aren’t we doing it for everybody? Electricity is electricity. I’m concerned that we’re tinkering here with something that really I think is...

That will do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So this is not just a one-time thing, an adjustment. It’s a new ongoing way of calculating tax. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That will be fine.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It’s not really a very impressive list given the impact that alcohol and its abuse has across our society. A number of the things that the Minister has outlined here really are quite passive and non-interactive. A label on a bag, a label on a bottle. Is that really communicating? Is it really working with people to persuade them of the consequences of abuse and helping them to make more responsible decisions? I really think we have badly undershot the responsibility we have. If we have undertaken in the mandate that it’s the Department of Finance’s job to look after...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Further to our discussion about the liquor review which is about to really get started, by my understanding. The Minister had responded and given some of the areas that the review or act covers now and, of course, that would be contained in the review. Where I’d like to go with this question as well as in terms of the scope and how inclusive and how broad this investigation is going to go. One hundred sixty thousand dollars over two years is not a lot of money from my point of view, Madam Chair, related to the overall size of the impact of the Liquor Act. I’m wondering...

Mr. Chairman, I see this as all quite doable. I’m already on record as being a strong supporter of the new finance program as outlined so far by the Minister, and I certainly hope we do get Ottawa to see us through this. In the event that we don’t, has the department got a plan B? This debt wall is a serious matter. There’s no real question in my mind that it is going to be something that we will have to pay back. The rules are very straightforward, but I do like to know that we do have some backstop, if you will, if things don’t go the way we would like them to go at the right time. So...

Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Premier for taking the initiative to phone Premier McGuinty. That tells me that he's doing his job.

Where I wanted to follow through now is in the answer to a previous question. Mr. Speaker, the Premier said that we may need to take more drastic action. I wanted to ask what actions are available to us, or what courses of action are available to us to really ensure that we will stay on the radar screen and we will achieve a fair resource revenue sharing deal? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Premier’s correction. Indeed, it was not Prince Edward Island, but Nova Scotia that kind of also claimed that it has a brand new day. Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue following through with this. What we know to date, does this deal with these two provinces help the NWT’s case or could it, in fact, hurt us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. A brand new day, this is what Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is proclaiming today.

During the ceremonies that were held earlier today, Mr. Speaker, to sign a new resource deal between his province and Ottawa, Prince Edward Island was also involved in that same historic deal, Mr. Speaker. After weeks of contentious debate, this province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is going to get $2 billion. Over the next eight years, they are going to be able to keep every dollar of their potentially enormous wealth coming off of their offshore energy fields. Mr. Speaker...