Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Extensive work has been done on the stabilization fund, and as we move forward with the final budget of the 17th Legislative Assembly, as always, we are open to discussions, and in this case, yes, we would be happy to put that information on the table and engage in a discussion with the Members.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will just confirm the commitment made from the Minister of ITI that ITI is currently finalizing their work on the report that was done on the BDIC. I recollect the Minister made a commitment to that. In due course, it will be shared with the committee and the recommendations and such reviewed and discussed for feedback. That is one of the ones that are most closely ready, I believe, to have that type of sharing. The other thing is we’ve provided the three-year proposed work plan looking for feedback and the Premier, as well, made a commitment in this House to sit...

Thank you. The intention is to have it ready for first reading for October session.

Thank you. We’ve been actively pursuing this project since late in the 16th Assembly when we got the initial papers together, we made our initial contact with P3 Canada and we started building the case to, in fact, commit ourselves to this project. So in regards to the detail, I’ll just ask Mr. Kalgutkar to speak to that since this is his file and he’s leading the charge. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We expect a legislative proposal to be ready in May.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a number of brief financial comments. The number that I have heard for universal daycares is somewhere in the neighborhood of $42 million in new money. This motion talks about reallocating existing resources. I would point out that junior daycare is reallocating existing resources and I hear, especially from the Yellowknife MLAs’ considerable heartburn, that in fact the reallocation has been done and the government should pay for everything. So, it is the issue of affordability, and we want both, we want both the daycare and junior kindergarten. I don’t know how...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will update and refresh the information we have on taxation, including the payroll tax, and have that ready as we start the next budget cycle next month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Mike Aumond and Jamie Koe, who were also in the gallery earlier on and I neglected to recognize. I’d like to recognize in this forum that they were there today with the NEB folks. As well, I have Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar from Finance as well. If Mr. Koe looks twitchy, it’s because he’s going to be heading out to the Brier literally in the next few hours, so he’s keen.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the Member’s concern. We could say in this budget that the $900,000 that is going to on-the-land programs have come out of this money. It’s all in general revenue. I appreciate the Member’s concern. I have no further comment, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, upon review and reflection, the decision was to not raise taxes except for the modest increase we put on to loose tobacco at this point. Looking after our expenditures, managing to live within our revenues and budget for the additional revenue that we look to get through the Resource Revenue Sharing Agreement. Thank you.