Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe it’s in the Minister’s opening remarks that he addressed the review of the NWT Liquor Act, which we’re now engaged in over a two-year program, which will have a budget of $160,000 attached to it. Again, I would reiterate my support and my approval of reviewing this really critical piece of legislation. From my perspective, Mr. Chairman, it is far more important that we delve into this from the perspective of liquor’s impact on our society and the social consequences of it more so than the fiscal business side of it. But to the review that we’re engaging...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ve got a couple of areas that I would like to explore. One of them is the ongoing challenge that we have to manage our debt and the plan that’s been outlined in some detail on restructuring our whole financial management situation. The other area concerns the Department of Finance’s jurisdiction over our liquor system.

Mr. Chairman, the business plans for 2005-08 and the budget document that the Minister presented last Thursday outlined a little bit of a scary situation for us on our overall debt situation. Everyone, of course, Mr. Chairman, is familiar with the...

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I do know -- and it's Valentine's Day so my heart is with the Premier and with the Prime Minister, too -- their promise is to see a deal that is going to mean net fiscal benefit. I've heard this from the Premier, I've heard this personally from the Prime Minister, that is where I want to go. But, Mr. Speaker, with suddenly these new demands coming from the provinces, there are many more provinces and they're a lot bigger than we are. While we have this understanding with the Prime Minister, do we also have this understanding with the provinces and are they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are to the Premier, and they relate to the amazing deal that was signed earlier today with two of the Maritime provinces on their resource sharing deals. I wanted to ask, Mr. Speaker, just what parallels are there between the deals that Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have and the deal that we are seeking with Ottawa for our resources? Where are the similarities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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...

Mr. Speaker, the social agencies, the frontline agencies, continue to make the point to me as recently as yesterday with the budget that we are terribly under-prepared at the community level to cope with the consequences of a pipeline. This is where, I believe, we can really do something to help promote and engender the trust and preparedness at the community level. Will this government be prepared to come to their aid and do something soon?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier, continuing along the theme of resource development and the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. Mr. Speaker, I was really pleased to hear the Premier say that there is a realization that no, we are not ready for this project and that we have come, or at least he and his Cabinet have come close to defining some of the terms we need to see in place. That was at least specific to the pipeline that a resource revenue sharing deal must be in place before we will endorse the start of this pipeline. That is an admirable position to be in....