Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have had regular meetings with the Northern Manufacturers Association. Certainly they are interested in business opportunities that oil and gas will provide to them on a number of fronts, tanks, construction materials. There have been some general kinds of discussion about alternative kinds of pipes, for example, using fibreglass instead of steel. That certainly has not reached the stage of being a realistic proposal yet, but definitely manufacturers are very interested in the opportunities this presents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If local companies do have ideas that seem feasible and seem to be good ideas, how do they approach your department to discuss these concepts to see if they may in fact be viable and to see if the department would be interested in supporting them? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They do not approach us in Finance, but I will answer as Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. In Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, we do offer a number of services for our businesses and potential businesses. We have money regionally to assist people in preparing business proposals, feasibility studies and so on. There are also a number of avenues for people to get grants, loans, and contributions through Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. My recommendation is that they would approach our regional economic development offices. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening as the Minister of Finance was responding earlier to a question from my colleague and spoke about windfall revenues. So my question will be to the Minister of Finance. I noticed that in our budget before us there has been no increase in rates in personal taxes or corporate taxes, so new revenues there are more a result of economic activity, which is positive.

But in his budget speech the Minister said that the only new tax initiative was a hotel tax proposed for the next year. Well, Mr. Speaker, I disagree. In fact, in this budget there is a significant tax grab. I would like to point out that fuel tax revenues are nearly double in this budget compared to last year. An extra $5 million in revenues, because this government will collect more money per litre than the government did last year.

Mr. Speaker, this tax will hit everyone. Trappers fuelling up their snowmobiles, fisher people trying to fuel up their boats, tourists. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask if the Minister will do the right thing and change the ad valorem tax that is now on fuel to a fixed amount per litre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to remind the Member that I have, on a couple of occasions, indicated that we have not been enforcing our ad valorem tax. Instead, we have maintained a fixed amount per litre. So the windfall we are getting here is not a result of implementing the ad valorem tax it is a result of increased fuel consumption in the North. That is a result of increased economic activity.

It is our intention, Mr. Speaker, to make the change that the Member has referred to. We are doing very well on a price per litre and do not feel that we need the ad valorem tax. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to hear that. I would like to get a breakdown, though, of the increase in litres we are expecting to see sold in the future. I would like to ask the Minister if he could provide us with the estimates and the volume of sales that are used for this budget compared to the volume of last year's budget.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be pleased to provide that information to the Member. I do not have it in front of me right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The welcome change that the Minister talked about in changing the tax to a fixed rate, will he ensure that the fixed rate is set so that it represents the amount that was raised by the government in previous years and does not represent an increase?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds to me that we are looking at an increase from that response, but I guess we will have to wait and see. My final question, Mr. Speaker, is when will the Minister be bringing this proposed change forward?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are not looking at any increase in the amount that we collect per litre. We will bring it forward as quickly as we can. Given the workload we have, this has not reached the top of the pile yet. But, Mr. Speaker, I assure the Members that we do not intend to enforce the ad valorem tax in the meantime. We will stick with a price per litre. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question goes to the Minister of Finance and it is in regard to the proposed hotel tax. Mr. Speaker, earlier, in answering questions from my colleague, Mr. Roland, he had indicated that there had been a windfall in various taxes. There has been more revenue coming in from fuel, there were more people per capita, and he found some additional tax with respect to corporate tax. Yet, at the same time he has felt the need to impose a totally new tax regime in the name of a hotel tax.

My question, Mr. Speaker, is why is he being so greedy and having to introduce a whole new tax on the backs of small hotel operators. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.