Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, the issue of our carbon emissions targets taxes has to be seen within the broader context in which we are trying to do through the Greenhouse Gas Strategy and the recognition that we all see as Northerners, the majority of us Northerners see of the rapid and dramatic and visible effect of climate change and what is driving that climate change in terms of world population and, of course, the anthropogenic or human-caused emissions.

In the North, we are very carbon dependent, as the Member indicated. The question is, what do we do in order to be responsible citizens of the country of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent has been and continues to be right from the start, that any taxes that we were looking at, but in this particular case, the carbon tax, it was premised on the assumption that we would be looking at it within the context of making it revenue neutral so it didn’t raise the cost of living. It would look at dealing with carbon emissions and such but making very carefully structured if it was going to be considered, but it was always within the context in the North. Anything we do with taxes, anything we do in terms of revenue generation, we have to be very...

In the next number of weeks we will conclude looking at what feedback we got from committee and we will look at how we can adjust the policy which we will then send back to committee for their review.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re still working on the document we’ve had. As the Member indicated, we visited committee and we presented the work that we’ve done. We presented the work that was coming out of Canada in terms of their thresholds and how they approached the issue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a number of fronts on this particular initiative where we’re looking at the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, which is underway. It will be done sometime this spring and summer and that will encompass the broad discussion of how do we control our emissions and our carbon footprint and what are the things we have to do in terms of standards and other options in terms of moving forward to be as responsible as possible. We’ve also committed through the Finance side to do work on the carbon tax. We’ve assisted with this workshop that the Member was at last week and that...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, March 4, 2011, I will move that Bill 25, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2011-2012 be read for the first time.

I give notice that on Friday, March, 4, 2011, I will move that Bill 26, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 5, 2010-2011, be read for the first time.

I give notice that on Friday, March 4, 2011, I will move that Bill 27, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2010-2011, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me the deputy minister of Finance, Margaret Melhorn; John Monroe, the director of fiscal policy; and Mr. Ian Rennie, legal advice and legislative counsel from the Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act. This bill is the result of our collaboration with the Department of Justice and the Canada Revenue Agency to ensure the NWT Income Tax Act remains harmonized with the federal act pursuant to the Tax Collection Agreement between the two governments.

Besides minor changes in terminology, the proposed amendments relate to the following:

revising definition of “adjusted income” for the purpose of calculating territorial Child Tax Benefit;

Child Tax Benefit entitlements in a shared custody situation;

deductions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A recent report commissioned by the Gwich’in Tribal Council has raised some questions about certain financial aspects of the devolution agreement-in-principle. The Government of the Northwest Territories does not agree with most of the conclusions of this report. We remain confident that the financial provisions of the devolution AIP are fair and reflect the best deal available. I rise today to set the record straight and address some of the confusion this report may have caused.

First of all I would like to point out that devolution is not just about money, it is about...