Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think again as we go through the budget process and lay out the details of that budget in each department, we’ll be able to show what we can deal with with the tools we have right now. That is one of our concerns, we need more resources to be able to deal with those things and ultimately that will be through a better fiscal arrangement with Ottawa and a royalty revenue sharing agreement that would see a net fiscal benefit to the Northwest Territories, which then we can take those funds and share with the rest of the people in the territory. If this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think our goal, first and foremost, is to have the federal government remove the debt limit that they have placed on us. That would be the first goal and we would have to work hard to achieve that. We have one year to make that happen, because we’ll still be in government and still be in control of the purse strings as we start into the year 2007. As things sit right now, if we look that far down the road, we’ll have no room for a borrowing limit at that point. So we have to make some decisions and this is what’s going to change our approach, is how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there are a number of avenues that have opened up to us through the election process that we’ve just gone through across Canada with the Prime Minister-designate making it very clear that the fiscal imbalance issue needs to be direct -- repaired, I guess, is a simple way of putting it -- in fact, as well, in saying that he sees us in the North as being the ones that gain from the development of the North. So I think those are areas we need to work together on from the North and come up with a unified message, and I’m sure the Premier, as he meets...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 18, Appropriation Act, 2006-2007, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make operation expenditures and capital investment expenditures for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we’ve been doing, building on the discussions we’ve had to date, is as a result of the election, the direction we’re going, putting out our budget, the Premier is meeting with the regional leaders across the North to discuss some of the strategies we may engage to put our issues at the forefront for the new federal government. That is the latest situation we’re facing and working towards. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to proceed with first reading of Bill 18, Appropriation Act, 2006-2007.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me pleasure today to introduce in the gallery my wife and daughter. My wife, Shawna, and my daughter, Courtney.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has referenced cooking and so on and so forth. I guess one could say there's a new chef in the kitchen now when it comes to the new government in place. We need to get an understanding from where they may come from initially. From that, we will know how much we'll have to push and how much harder.

Mr. Speaker, clearly, as Minister of Finance for the Northwest Territories, and I look down in our fiscal forecast, if we do not get the changes that were requested, and ultimately those changes can be made and should be made in Ottawa because they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess there are all types of avenues one can consider to the point of taking our tents and setting them up on the front lawns of Parliament, but, more realistically, what we need to do and we have been doing, but we are going to have to enhance it more, is how we have got the message out there. We have a business case. We believe our business case is an adequate one and it’s clear that we have delivered the message to Ottawa about our fiscal situation in the Northwest Territories in the unique situations we encounter being this far north and the conditions that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, the message today being sent to the companies doing business in the Northwest Territories is, don’t shift your payments out of our jurisdictions. Keep them in the Northwest Territories and continue to look at filing in the Northwest Territories for those companies who do business in the North. The tax arrangements in Canada allow flexibility for where they can file their income. Ultimately the message today is being sent to companies in the Northwest Territories to file their tax in the Northwest Territories because we will be as competitive with...