Michael Miltenberger

I wish to table the following document entitled Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2009–2010. I also wish to table the following document entitled the Yellowknife Gasoline Prices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Document 93-16(2), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2009–2010, tabled.

Document 94-16(2), Yellowknife Gasoline Prices, tabled.

I appreciate the Member’s enthusiasm for getting ahead of the parade, but I’ll just once again ask him to have patience. I’ll be coming forward with a Minister’s statement that will speak to those issues. Then we can engage in any number of questions that the Member may have.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2008–2009, be read for the third time.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2008–2009, be read for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, the work we’re doing will be brought forward, as I have committed to in the House, through the business planning process and further into the budget process, where there will be time for review and discussion. We have agreed to come forward and give the public the results of the round table and all the feedback we have received. That document is being worked on as we speak.

We are going to pull together a considered paper that’s going to be shared with the Regular Members, having heard very clearly once again in the House the need to communicate and consult before significant decisions are made. That work is underway, and we will be moving forward on that in the next number of weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of a heritage fund has been now around the Legislature since at least the 15th Assembly. We’ve raised this issue. I raised it at the round table. It was raised in my fiscal overview of the government. Work is underway to come forward with a discussion paper to lay out some of the options for a heritage fund that would be, I would suggest, set up by statute, by legislation. There are some very strong models to look at. We have the Norway model. We have the Alaska model. We looked at what Alberta has done. Pick the best and come forward with a discussion paper.

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I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2008–2009, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill makes supplementary appropriations for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2008–2009 fiscal year.

Mr. Speaker, we’re going to be timing the work we are doing. There are people working on it right now. We know the business planning is going to start in the middle of November. We would like to have as much of the information as we can have pulled together at that point to talk about what’s being proposed for 2009–2010. If I can refresh everybody’s memory, we are looking at year 2 of reductions, about $28 million or so.

As well, we are tasked and targeted with finding $10 million in new revenues. We will come forward with that work clearly laid out for the ’09–10 budget and the business plan...

I am particularly taken with work that was done in Norway, the fact that they set up a fund in legislation that’s politically tamper proof. It’s not tied to consolidated general revenue. The parameters of what can be done to it, how it can be done are very clear. The money is kept separate, and all the petroleum, oil and gas revenues go into that fund.

There are other ones to look at. Alaska and Alberta are two. The biggest one in the world is Abu Dhabi, which is almost $800 billion. The one in Norway is about $380 billion. So there are things we can learn. We want to set up the best one...