Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I’d just like to point out that only Alberta and the Yukon have on highway gasoline tax rates lower than the NWT, and only Alberta and the Yukon have lower diesel rates. We haven’t touched our fuel taxes since 1997. Five other jurisdictions currently have regulation, with what could only be called mixed success.

The Conference Board of Canada has determined that while there may be some initial benefits, the long-term benefits are not there. In fact, in PEI, for example, in spite of all their regulation they end up with the highest before tax gasoline prices in Canada. In 2005, for...

Every worker who works for a wage in the Northwest Territories pays the payroll tax, including the migrant workers, as referred to by the Member. They take with them the rest of the pay they make, and they file their income tax in the jurisdiction where they reside, which is one of the major concerns we have, of course, as a Legislature and as a government: that revenue is not here. They’re not living in the North. They don’t have houses. They’re not paying local taxes. They’re not paying income tax, and they’re not supporting the northern infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a 2 per cent payroll tax, which was designed with the goal of trying to in fact be able to recoup some of the money that the fly in/fly out workers are taking with them as they head back to the other jurisdictions where they live.

We’re going to be starting the business planning process, and Members will have an opportunity to comb through the plans of each department. We are looking for efficiencies; we are looking for savings; we want to control our costs; we want value for money. At the same time, we want to be able to communicate in the best way possible using as many local resources as we can. That is a discussion we’re prepared to have across the board so that there are no sacred cows, as it were, or Ministers or departments. We’re prepared to look at all that through the business planning process.

Mr. Speaker, clearly, the value of the printed word is very important as part of the way we communicate. The actual dollar figure, in terms of how much we advertise and what our printing costs are, I don’t have with me today. But I will commit to getting the best numbers we can for the Member.

Mr. Speaker, if companies are coming to work and are working through a socio-economic agreement and they’ve been brought in by one of the mines on a contract, then they’re required, through their commitment to us in those agreements, to make sure they’re registered, that they have all the business licences — if they work with us, along with the contractor — to comply with all the rules and regulations of the land.

Mr. Speaker, southern firms that want to work in the North have to of course register in the North. They have to sign up with WCB. We as the government make sure we are aware of who is working in the North.

One of the requirements is that they have to file and notify what earned income is made in the North by workers, and then there is a process. I don’t have the specific detail or sequence or the type of form that is used, but the Government of the Northwest Territories then deals with the southern firms to make sure the remittance that is due to the Northwest Territories is provided.

Mr. Speaker, the Member must have a really tough time as Christmas approaches if he can’t wait. I have committed to share the information with the committee. We have just heard the concern raised here about the need to consult, to talk before we plan stuff.

If I came in and said I have decided, in my wisdom over coffee in the morning — that I have just dreamed up this regulatory process and we are going to do it because I think it’s a good idea…. I would suggest to you once again, as I have previously, that we have heard very clearly the need to do this through the process.

The business planning...

Mr. Speaker, we have the lowest tax regime, in my understanding, in the country in terms of these fuels. We haven’t touched our fuel taxes since 1997. We don’t want to get ourselves involved, nor do we have the ability to set rack prices and then market prices and those types of things, which fluctuate sometimes daily.

There are market forces at play here, and that’s not an area we are involved in. We have some role to play in the small communities through the Petroleum Products Division. In terms of the market communities we are looking at keeping our costs as low as possible in terms of what...

The area that is of most interest, the preferred vehicle for everybody we talked to, is the area of new revenue that is not going to come from taxes. The things we have talked about are in terms of the population growing carefully and developing revenue streams in a broadened economic base. For example, the Minister of ITI would be glad to talk to you about the recent diamond cutting operation that has set up an operation in Yellowknife. It is an opportunity that has been realized.

Those are the types of things that I think people are keenly interested in. They tell us as well as the government...