Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks for allowing us to have some opening comments here on this budget address. I guess first and foremost one of the questions I’ll have for the Minister is he’s obviously breaking tradition by not buying a new pair of shoes today and have him answer that question as to why not. Obviously, I know there’s a custom involved with this.

I’m going to be kind of going not in any type of order per se in terms of priority, but obviously just kind of making some overall comments as things unfold here.

One of the things I know the budget seemed to have lacked or is lacking is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member and the Minister here. Obviously this is money for remediation, but this is also public money from public tax dollars. So again, there’s no real earmarking here.

My last question has to deal with if this policy is being done in the way that has been indicated to the House and Members here, and if the proponent was meeting the needs of this policy, and obviously construction of this road is in dire need, and there’s a timeline sensitivity to this road. My question is, and also of the proponent, I’m sure, who’s waiting in the wings: Why hasn’t this...

Yes, we did receive those letters and, again, obviously there will be probably some more future questions on that.

Moving on to my next question to the Minister, I need to know, and I think a lot of people need to know here, what is the government’s position on future road construction projects in the greater Yellowknife area with respect to this Negotiated Contracts Policy. What is this government’s message moving forward and to the business community here in Yellowknife?

I will be discussing once again during oral questions with the Minister of Transportation on this subject to make sure that taxpayers and residents of NWT are getting a fair price for this project, that money is being spent in the North and that jobs are truly going to Northerners. In the end, I have said all along that opportunity, not exclusivity, is to be the way of this government, and that transparency and accountability cannot take a backseat for the people of the Northwest Territories.

I ask once again for this government, the Minister of Transportation and the department to come forward...

That’s good news to hear. I guess my next question has to do with, as I think was mentioned in my Member’s statement, this government’s position when this Yellowknife region reaches full market capacity, which we see today, especially in highway construction, how will this government deal with overcapacity. In essence, how are they going to deal with the cannibalization of businesses competing desperately to stay alive and what is this government going to do when businesses start to close down when there’s lack of work?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be for the Minister of Transportation. There’s no doubt that there’s been a lot of flurry of activity in the media lately regarding the Highway No. 4 bypass here in Yellowknife, and for good reason. There’s obviously a lot of concern out there. Contrary to what was reported by the media spokespeople by the Department of Transportation on this highway project and the Negotiated Contracts Policy, there has been more than just one company that’s come forward. There have been many companies that have come forward to seek an interest and, more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple of months ago I spoke strongly about the procurement dealings of this government on the highway for bypass project. I am returning once again to this House on such topic.

I indicated then, this is not the last time I will be speaking to the House for the ill-fitted Negotiated Contracts Policy and how such policy undermines our territory’s ability to protect public first in what is already an established market economy.

You see, few disagree that Yellowknife itself is at full market capacity. As such, things are very competitive in the highway construction...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I made reference to a potential open door in the tobacco tax collection process. Specifically, the manual self-reporting remains portion of the GNWT tax. As stated, I have highlighted a potential problem which fails to ensure we are indeed getting the maximum tax of what tobacco comes into the NWT for sale. In order to put accountability and public trust into the system as it stands today, would the Minister of Finance consider having a one-source of distribution for all tobacco coming into the Northwest Territories so that we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tobacco is bad, period. We all agree that cigarettes contain known carcinogens that cost our health care systems millions of dollars annually. What kills me even more is that I don’t think we’re collecting all our taxes on this product, because I believe we have an open door in the tobacco tax collection process itself that is half open, and this half-open door could be potentially exploited. I will attempt to walk the Members here today down a very complex path in tobacco tax collection.

To start, there are a myriad of terms thrown in the collection of tax for tobacco...

Merci, M. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]

…for bringing forward today what I think is an important motion, which I’ll be voting in favour. I started off in my native tongue of French, and not because I feel confident that I have a secretariat in French, but moreover that I know there’s security in my language moving forward. I think, in essence, this is what this motion is looking at, is security.

Not to reiterate what we’ve heard today from some of the Members here, we talked about the importance from the justice system, the medical system, which I think is utterly important. We...