Bob Bromley

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister’s Statement 80-16(2), Sessional Statement, and would like to report progress.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you again for those comments. One last question: could the Premier outline the role he sees this side of the House playing and how he intends to involve us as representatives of the people in this process in a meaningful and timely way?

Thank you for those comments. I want to state that I am the first one to recognize we have an extremely complex situation here, and a bull in a china shop is obviously not the right approach. We need to be very sensitive here.

Has the Premier assured these aboriginal governments that this process will in no way impinge upon their ability to negotiate their own devolution of resource revenue agreements as part of their self-government negotiations and land claim settlement negotiations?

Mr. Speaker, I made a statement on artists. I’d like to recognize Wynter and Montana as extraordinary up and coming fiddlers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to recognize just a few of the amazing artists of the Weledeh riding, knowing that this exercise simply reflects the incredibly talented people that can be found throughout the Northwest Territories in every one of our ridings. In doing so, I hope to underscore the important role and mentorship these people have in strengthening our community and northern spirit, our social relationships and our economy.

I’d like to start with mentioning visual artists in Dettah/N’dilo: Henry Beaulieu, Peter Mitchell, Alex Betsina. Craftspeople and artisans in Dettah: Paul...

I think the Minister semi-anticipated my next question. There are, as he mentioned, just less than a couple of weeks left. It happens to coincide almost with the federal election.

Are there any particular areas that our public should be aware of that you are interested in comments on that you have not heard from them on? This is an opportunity for our public to hear about that, and I think we’ve had some response on that. If there are any comments on how the public can best focus their comments on areas that might be most fruitful, this would be a good chance to hear about it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Finance can stay standing if he’d like.

My question is on revenue options. Specifically, in this case, one of the things I always hear back when I’m trying to come up with innovative ideas is that the cost of tax collection is prohibitive. Right now the federal government collects our taxes for us. If we take it on, is the Minister investigating what the actual cost of that tax collection would be so that we can make an informed judgment on whether that’s a valid response or not?

I appreciate that offer. That sounds wonderful. The experience in other jurisdictions — and I want to stress that this has been done for millions of households, so this is off the shelf technology. But where it has been done for the first time, typically the utility or some powers that be end up putting barriers in place through, for example, requiring unrealistically expensive meters and so on. I wonder if we can expedite this process by just getting all the players together at the table. I think this is a modus operandi of this government.

Would the Minister be able to facilitate getting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement on the net metering issue. It involves, I believe, the Minister of ENR for renewable energy, the Minister of NTPC, Mr. Roland, and the Minister of PUB, Mr. McLeod. So I don’t have a druthers on who this is directed at, but I’d like to begin by finding out exactly what regulatory process is required to set up net metering for Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Chair, I move that we rise and report progress.