Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would believe economists would be looking at this as a twofold opportunity for this government. I strongly applaud the raising of the average wage rate in the Northwest Territories, but yet doing nothing to this tax credit allowing more dollars in the hands of those on the lower end of the earning scale has some merit.

Will this government do any type of review during this fiscal year to make it part of a strategy to have this looked at, in conjunction with the good work they’ve done, with raising the average wage rate?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, what I’m getting from the response today is we’re not quite sure. Again, it is maybe a very difficult question but when I see the fact that some of the health determinants are showing certain trends, it’s just interesting that our trends on the revenue taxation line aren’t reflecting those two trends. Whether or not I’m predicting a price increase or taxation increase, it sounds like there’s not. I will leave it at that. I will probably be coming back to that sometime in the future.

With that same page, Mr. Chair, I want to move my question down to the bottom of that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have two questions on this activity, the first of which is the cost of living tax credit where it appears that we’re regressing on our main estimates compared to last year, maybe as a reflection to the population decrease or increase. But, to the overall question, do we anticipate that the government may look at any changes to this cost of living tax credit during this fiscal year?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to welcome the Minister and deputy minister here today. I do want to applaud the work of the department here. As I said in my reply to the budget address the other day, it is a daunting task and a lot of hard work goes into putting together a document of this magnitude. So I do want to commend the department and the Minister for providing the guidance and leadership to make this happen.

As you’ve heard from some of my previous colleagues here, there are some good things on the horizon which we should be very proud of. One of them is the Mackenzie Valley Fibre...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will be brief. This question was brought up in my general comments. Unfortunately, it didn’t get a response to this. There was a significant change in the amount of expenditures from what this process incurred back in the fall to what we see today. Again, without being able to table a number or share a number, that change is just over 2 percent. So there were significant changes in the amount of expenditure line in the Department of Finance in a very short period of time between what was discussed in committee and what was tabled here just recently.

Can the department...

I want to congratulate the department for finally realizing where I firmly believe there are issues with respect to our loophole in our taxation system, so I’m going to be looking with much anticipation of the results of that audit. Can the department indicate how the findings of this audit will be made to Members and how will the findings of this audit will be made public? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Aumond, Mr. Kalgutkar, welcome back to the House. With that, we’ll go to general comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

If I can be as bold as saying it may be routine for the government to do these types of transformations, this is not routine for well-established businesses, businesses that have been in business for not just a couple of years but for, in some cases, a decade or two. I just want to make sure there’s fairness built in, there’s transparency built in and there’s the ability that if there is a dispute that we do have the mechanisms and the measures in place that these businesses can and have access to other than an MLA knocking on the door of Finance.

I guess my last question is: Even though we don...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am encouraged with that response. I know I’ve asked that many times. I guess we’ll have it before the end of the 17th, which is better late than never. So, congratulations to the department for recognizing that opportunity, because Members have been asking for that for some time.

Last, Mr. Chair, with respect to this activity. The treasury division looks after the administration of all legislative tax programs and I guess to the question and, again, I do applaud the good work that has been done in terms of increasing the frequency of tax audits, especially on tobacco...

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. With that, does committee agree?