My first objective, the last 12 months, was to work closely with this House and many Members to bring our spending under control, to try to move towards a balanced budget based on fairness, on equity, and in as caring a way as possible. An inordinate amount of effort has gone into trying to manage the changes that we have to make on the fiscal side, the last 12 months. Now, I am prepared to, once this budget is approved and we have the difficult decisions behind us, that I am prepared to work closely with the committees, Mr. Picco's committees and others, at looking at revenue-generating initiatives. But frankly, the amount of energy and the time we put into trying to manage our way through this difficult fiscal period, very little time was put into the generation of revenues. I think we are prepared to work closely with the committees if there is a will there and a desire there for us to look in certain areas. I have said, and I will say again, categorically, I will not support taxation as it relates to charities and bingos and things of that nature. I would caution everybody on the VLTs. There is considerable opposition, for example, in Alberta right now to VLTs, et cetera. But there may be other areas besides that we can look at in terms of generating revenues that may have an impact on this government and I will make a concerted effort, once this budget is through, to stimulate debate and discussion with the committee on looking exactly at that. Thank you.
John Todd on Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 10th, 1997. See this statement in context.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 9th, 1997
Page 519
John Todd Keewatin Central
See context to find out what was said next.