Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 25, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2011-2012, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes the Government of the Northwest Territories to make operations expenditures for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 26, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 5, 2010-2011, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 27, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2010-2011, be read for the third time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 25, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2011-2012, be read for the third time.

Mr. Speaker, the most immediate example I can give is the electrical rate restructure was done that, in fact, lowered the price of commercial power in the Member’s communities in his riding by many cases 30, 40 or 50 percent and would have, in our hope and our plan, to have an effect on the food basket costs. That is probably one of the single biggest things in the life of this Assembly that has been done, an issue that has bedevilled Assemblies since before the 13th Assembly where we have tried to deal with the issue of the power rates to push for a one-rate zone but that particular decision...

Mr. Speaker, first, to reassure the Member, tomorrow we are going to give third reading to the budget bill and it is going to get assent by the Commissioner. In that bill, there are no new taxes.

There is work being done, as we discussed it in the House today with Member for Weledeh, in terms of the Greenhouse Gas Strategy. There was a roundtable held by the group Mr. Bromley was part of on looking at having further discussions on the carbon tax. All that work is going to be pulled together and it will be there for the consideration for the 17th Assembly and then there will be very careful...

That’s going to be part of the challenge. As we look at, for example, the federal approach to P3s, they have a fairly high threshold of $50 million. We’ve heard the concerns from the committee that in the North that’s going to put most projects out of reach. That’s one of the areas where we have to come to a final agreement on.

The Member has touched on a key point in terms of the risk and the tangible benefits. We do have an extensive list of feedback from the committee that we received in December and that work is still being reviewed in looking at how we can incorporate it into the policy going forward.

Thank you. We appreciate the Member’s point and we are of the same mind, that whatever we do has to be tailored and reflect the realities of the Northwest Territories as an individual and unique jurisdiction. We are doing the work in both areas, both on the Finance side and Environment and Natural Resource side, to pull together the best information that’s available so that we can set all the pieces in place for the incoming Assembly to make an informed decision, hopefully as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the third time.