Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. This concludes it. I believe everyone had a chance to speak in general comments. I will allow the sponsor of the bill to comment back on the general comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

Okay, committee. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I must remind the Minister that we aren’t the middle of the pack when it comes to taxes. We are actually one of the lowest when it comes to royalty rates and we don’t have a mineral tax, so we don’t have anything to compare with.

If there is any doubt at all in the facts presented here today, then, clearly, would this Minister take this to the people? Will he conduct a public review of economic rent from the non-renewable resources to ensure fair capturing of public revenues? Will he seek out all forms of taxation revenues? Will he stand on the side of accountability and...

Mr. Speaker, we’ve had this discussion. That’s what I’m hearing from the Minister, but we did not include us on this side of the House. It is has been a Cabinet decision.

After devolution, this government will have the opportunity to raise royalty rates which, for the record, haven’t changed in years and are embarrassingly some of the lowest rates in Canada in the free world. This government, for years, has been content with not capturing what is owed to the people. There is still opportunity for the NWT to raise royalty rates and still remain competitive.

Will this Minister commit to the House...

The public owns its mineral resources on Crown land in the NWT. Our job, government’s job, the Department of Finance’s job and the Minister of Finance’s job is to capture a fair share of economic rent from mineral companies to ensure the public is appropriately compensated and that companies have fair returns.

Clearly, someone in this government didn’t get this memo and it’s clear that this current government is leaving money on the table at a time when they preach fiscal responsibility and accountability. This is shameful. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We face a critical choice between the promise this future bill will mean for our shared public wildlife resource and the prisons of our past between resident and traditional harvester. We can ill afford to duplicate these same errors.

After 15 years in the making, I ask you today, on a scale from nine to 10, how severe is our wildlife issue. How polarized have we become as a society to pit one against the other, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal hunter, treaty holder and non-claimant holder? We are a nation of divide, driven apart when our resolve should be about the...

Mr. Speaker, I encourage the Minister to bring those discussions within the life of the 17th Assembly. I’m looking forward to it.

Capital tax which is applied on a corporation paid-up capital is a stable revenue stream and is another form of tax that most provinces and territories levy while the NWT does not. According to the GNWT’s own analysis from the Department of Finance, a tiny 0.3 percent tax on paid-up capital of large corporations would net $12 million in annual revenues. Keep in mind that in the past 10 years, federal corporate income taxes have been reduced from 22 to 15 percent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement, I clearly indicated that this government is leaving money on the table and is clearly not working in a fiscally prudent manner for the people. This government and Minister of Finance have a fiduciary obligation to the people and to capture a significant portion of economic grant royalties and taxation since it rightfully belongs to the public. Why this government continues to ignore pleas of citizens in trying to find new sources of revenue I am not sure, but what I am certain of is, if nothing is done, as the good Minister always...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank our Minister of Finance for going into the communities with his recent round of budget dialogue with Northerners. I am pleased that his open and honest approach with residents on how we should deal with our devolution monies and our Heritage Fund has been discussed. But – and this is where I depart from the mild-mannered Member for Range Lake – I am extremely disappointed and, most of all, infuriated at this same Minister who in last night’s budget dialogue with Yellowknife residents refused to take responsibility in responding to the question if we were...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My intention is not to belittle the question. It’s just that the fact remains that we’ve got some consistent facts or variables that I consider baseline and without knowing what this number means in relationship to the overall costs of heating and electricity for our public housing, there’s nothing to gauge whether or not $1.645 million is reasonable, given the facts we know today. So unless we’re able to baseline this number in relationship to what is considered a fair increase, that has yet to be seen and we don’t have that information today.

So again, I’m at the...