Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I like how the Minister coins “market forces at play,” and I’m always interested in how market forces seem to be at play when you don’t get new fuel supply. The iceroad is not working; the ferry is not working, but those little fix-it things flapping around with the new price, and higher and higher and higher — that’s all market force? I think market force at play is called competition, not gouging.

Can this Minister today commit to putting something on the table right now that proves we’re protecting the consumer and we are showing that the consumers are not being protected and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to refer my questions back to my Member’s statement today, when I talked about regulation of our fuels here in the Northwest Territories. My questions will be directed to the Minister of Finance, who had asked me earlier to give him a reprieve on cost of living and tax questions. So my questions will be focused on fuel regulation.

This fuel regulation is something that will help balance the equation where fuel prices are high and consumer protection is low. I’d like to know what this Minister of Finance is doing to make sure we can bring fuel regulation to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, it’s funny. I keep hearing about this business planning process. It’s almost the same excuse I give my kids when they say: Daddy, buy me this; buy me this. I say: wait till Christmas; wait till Christmas. Everything from this side of the Cabinet is: oh, don’t worry; wait for the business planning process; it will take care of everything. I cannot wait for the business planning process. We are going to be so busy.

Mr. Speaker, if the Minister is too nervous or unwilling to say, “No, I don’t know what to say,” would he give us a clear answer and tell us and show...

Mr. Speaker, there are also other places — Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec — that do this. I would look to the Minister and ask him where he is putting protection again. Is he putting it in the hands of protecting the producer, or is he going to look at finally putting it in the hands of the consumers?

You know, the choice is very clear. We can create consumer confidence, and that’s our job, here, to do this. So I ask the Minister again: will he review this file and take a look at the situation? If we do one single thing for protecting consumers, that’s the best thing we can do on this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Northerners are reeling from the increased costs of gas, diesel and home heating fuel and are fearful for what this winter will bring. Not only does it cost more to put gas in our vehicles and to heat our homes, but these sky rocketing fuel prices are affecting and impacting the everyday cost of living of all Northerners. As a result of these high fuel prices, we are living with increases in electricity, food and other goods and services.

The bottom line is that this government needs to stand up for Northerners and protect them by introducing regulations that monitor and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said yesterday, the problem with this government is it has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and it continues to be obvious more so even today. I only wish there were a program like the Tree of Peace to send the Finance Minister to, to make sure he understands that, but we don’t.

So it’s about time this government realizes that you could lower the cost of living in government and do business better at the same time without raising taxes. We need someone over there on that Cabinet side of this building to understand that we don’t need new taxes.

Again, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d just like to seek clarification from the Minister. It was difficult to hear him. I wasn’t sure if he said that the surplus could be spent on something other than the fire suppression.

Memory may not serve me correctly, but for some reason I seem to recall that we’ve gone to a special warrant process for the last five years that I’ve been in the Assembly. Has there been a supplementary appropriation to pick up the shortfall every year for the last five years? Would the Minister be able to tell me that? Am I correct?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ve cited a number of times under forest management that the department should take the initiative and start creating some type of revolving fund, knowing that quite often we go over budget in this area and we keep coming back to the Assembly and topping that up. I realize we’re paying what one could describe as actuals, but I’d certainly like to see the department investigate a process or that we start funding forest management properly so they don’t have to keep coming back each year.

I say that with the proviso that it’s reasonable to understand that some years are...

I’ve read those numbers very closely in the five years I’ve been here, and I notice the one thing that sticks out very evidently is that there’s no tax stabilization policy that levelizes our taxes, sets some aside for the rainy day and certainly is there on the good days. What is this Minister doing to help levelize and stabilize our tax policies that will help so that when big business decides to file somewhere else, it doesn’t cause a crumble like it did in our last budget?