Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 9, Forgiveness of Debts Act, 2013-2014, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened to the Member’s statement with interest, and his references to Peter Pan and such, and as he was talking, clearly the image that came to my mind when I think of those characters, of course, was Tinker Bell and Mr. Dolynny sprinkling stardust and fairy dust around as he goes raising his issues in this House. I appreciate the comparison.

In regard to his question, passive restraint is a management tool where targets are set within government, within departments to manage their budgets to realize savings that will help us meet our targets both in savings or to...

I will work at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I fully expect that there will be a meeting within the same time frame with the stakeholders Wildlife Act Advisory Group. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have indicated in all the work we have done that the bump-up in revenues is attributed to devolution and that $67 million, roughly, has been added to our A-base into departments, mainly ENR, ITI and the new Lands department and some into the Executive, and all the consequential resources that come with that. So, it is carrying the budget that is there and that is what we are bringing forward to this House for approval. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that is projected for 2014-15.

The make-up of the Wildlife Act Working Group is there for review. It contains and involves the Aboriginal governments and their representatives, the GNWT, the stakeholders, Wildlife Act Advisory Group as well as a membership that was in place prior to the start of the regulatory development. We’re looking at engaging those two bodies again.

One of the challenges that is on the table, as the Member has pointed out, is an understanding reflected in regulations that’s going to require mandatory reporting so that we can collectively manage the wildlife in the Northwest Territories, because you can...

The intent is to use the same process that we had developed, maybe with some modifications since the type of work is a little different, but the same intent that we had when we engaged with the Aboriginal governments, the Wildlife Act Working Group and then, as well, with stakeholders, the Wildlife Act Advisory Group to make sure we get the full range of input as we lay out and do the work in terms of the regulations. We will, of course, be prepared to provide regular updates with committee whenever they would like to have that feedback and opportunity to have input. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Member has accused us, once again, of duplicitous behavior and nothing could be farther from the truth. There was no miscalculation of our estimates for income tax, corporate or personal income tax. We are here with the budget, it’s transparent, we’ve been going through the business planning process like normally we would, we’ll go through the public accounts, and to have the Member accuse us of duplicitous behaviour, to me, is uncalled for and it is not acceptable.

If he wants to stand up and point to something that is truly duplicitous, then I would have him do so. We are on...

Of course, I will defer to the Member’s superior knowledge when it comes to Peter Pan.

In regard to the savings, every budget that we have done in the life of this Assembly has met the targets that we have set out in terms of managing with fiscal discipline the budgets of the first two years to control our expenditures, the forced growth limits, the hiring limits, all those types of initiatives. We have met those targets this year. While we are still continuing with passive restraint, we are going to be able to in fact honour the third year plan, which is to add $25 million to the capital...