Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I just want to confirm that when some corporations filed their tax returns in the Northwest Territories and paid taxes to our jurisdiction, some of those were received while our corporate tax rate was 14 percent. So what would have been the incentive or motivation for those companies to file with us at 14 percent if Alberta was sitting at 12.5 percent? What would have attracted those and how could we encourage more of that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in reference to the budget address today, I have a question for the Minister of Finance. On page 14 it says effective January 1, 2004, we will be increasing the corporate income tax rate from 12 percent to 14 percent. It goes on to say -- and this is something that is complicated I know, but I wanted to make note of it -- as a result of rebasing the tax effort adjustment factor in the new formula financing agreement, the GNWT would actually lose revenues if we attract investments at the current corporate income tax rate. So we have gone from 12 percent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had a text all prepared here with a wonderful Member’s statement, but I think I’d just like to off-the-cuff, briefly comment on the situation as outlined in the budget today by our Finance Minister.

I guess Mr. Ramsay has referred to the pace at which we spent money in the previous Assembly and to some extent I agree with that. Our current Finance Minister, who was not the Finance Minister in the last government, used to stand up in this House on a very regular basis and talk about the debt wall. Sometimes when we were in committee meetings and planning...

The motion is in order. It is not debatable. All those in favour of the motion to report progress? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Thank you. I will now rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly do look forward to the formation and appointment of such a committee. I would also like to see though -- and I would ask the Premier if he would concur -- that the terms of reference for the mandate of this committee needs to not be restrictive in terms of where they might go in terms of identifying opportunities for this government to assist northerners regardless of where they live, and what other kinds of corporations they have in their communities to access support and help. That the terms of reference would not be restrictive and let this be decided...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess that's my point. I find that interesting, because these are our communities, these are our constituents, and I don't know why we would limit our interests in seeing benefits flow just to these things that have been mentioned. I don't know why we wouldn't want to assist. So if a community or a corporation or an aboriginal government were interested in some of these things that the Premier has referred to, where's the office, where's the central agency, where's the access, where's the entry point, where's the window for them to get support from this government...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Then to allay peoples’ fears about a mass exodus of corporate taxpayers in the Northwest Territories, then what you are saying is it wouldn’t be realistic to assume that if someone had the lion’s share of their activities taking place in the Northwest Territories and had a corporate office say in Edmonton or Vancouver, that they could legally file their corporate tax return in another jurisdiction to obtain a lower rate. Could the Minister confirm that that is the case? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Finance Minister, what was our corporate tax rate at the time that we received those filings, which resulted in what we came to fondly refer to as tax windfalls? Thank you, and what was the rate?