David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know my colleagues have addressed this issue and this motion in my mind and I will applaud them for that. I won’t take up too much more time on the motion this afternoon.

I think it’s very sad that we had to go to the extent of drafting this motion today to present to the government. It should be embarrassing for the government that the regular Members on this side had to go to this length to tell the government that you have a policy and you should live by the policy. Either you are going to support the northern economy and the northern manufacturing industry or you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That doesn’t leave me with a great deal of surety on this. The Cabinet knew about this last week, they know that today is the last day of session, Mr. Speaker. Why can’t they make a decision, why do they have to wait until tomorrow, Mr. Speaker? Why is it that the government has to wait until tomorrow to get together to make a decision like this? I can’t for the life of me think of a reason why, except for that they won’t be able to be asked in public again why they waived the BIP on this. Mr. Speaker, does the tender actually split the cost of the units with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The next question I would have is if a couple of these positions, and they're senior positions, Mr. Speaker, have been vacant -- one for over three years, the other coming up on two years -- will the Minister consider rolling these positions up? If the Audit Bureau has gotten by without these positions for this amount of time, does that cause the Minister some concern? I know he spoke of the last government, but this is this government. Today is today. Will the Minister undertake to have a review of this division and see if we can roll up some of these positions...

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I would now like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring in witnesses and introduce them.

Clause 2. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know most of the gentlemen across the other side of this House have at one time or another stood up and extolled the virtues of diversifying our economy and supporting our manufacturing industry. I’d like to ask the Minister one final question and that is if he and the Premier can put together a chronology of events that lead up to this decision being made. I’d like some detail. That’s the one thing that’s missing in this whole equation, Mr. Speaker, is the lack of detail to the regular Members on this side of the House and I think it’s shameful. I think the Minister...

Bill 2 is now ready for third reading.

---Applause

I would like to take an opportunity thank Mr. Roland and his staff, Ms. Veinott, Ms. Melhorn, and Mr. Gagnon, for their appearance here this afternoon. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, committee. We would now like the Honourable Floyd Roland, Minister of Finance, to begin with his opening remarks on Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, No. 2.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Minister, do you wish to comment?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll pick up where some of my colleagues have left off with my line of questioning. I guess the first question I’ll ask to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation -- and I’ll get right to the point, Mr. Speaker -- is why were northern manufacturers not consulted in this process? Thank you.

---Applause

To the bill as a whole.