Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will certainly consider finding a time and occasion to deal with the Member's suggestion. Thank you.
Debates of July 4th, 2000
This is page numbers 397 - 466 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.
Topics
Further Return To Question 111-14(2): Federal Responsibility For Giant Mine Pensioners
Question 111-14(2): Federal Responsibility For Giant Mine Pensioners
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Further Return To Question 111-14(2): Federal Responsibility For Giant Mine Pensioners
Question 111-14(2): Federal Responsibility For Giant Mine Pensioners
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister responsible for the Department of Finance regarding a return to an oral question about proposed hotel tax projections.
Mr. Speaker, I would just like to ask the Minister whether the numbers he has given me of $1.5 million to $2 million include the hundreds of millions of dollars that are paid to boards and agencies and municipalities in settlements. That it is all government money, but it is transferred over. As well, the issue of medical travel. Does this relatively small number of $800,000 include those numbers? Thank you.
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.
Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Speaker, no, it does not include all of the other events, boards, meetings, aboriginal leadership conferences and so on that the Government of the Northwest Territories funds. If we were to count everything like that, then the number would be considerably larger. The question was asked, though, is the Government of the Northwest Territories travel included.
What I have here is Government of the Northwest Territories civil servants' travel, and our best estimate at this point of their costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Supplementary To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a fine hair that the Minister is splitting, so I would like to ask the Minister, when he looks at the cost to government, could he in fact get the numbers looked at so that they are accurate? How much is the government spending with this hotel tax in terms of charging itself?
It is clear that just focusing on employees leaves out a huge, as the Minister indicated, segment of the government budget. We are talking about government money and upward pressure on all the agencies and boards we fund. Thank you.
Supplementary To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Joe Handley Weledeh
Mr. Speaker, we can undertake to do that but, again, it would have to be very much a ballpark figure. Very often when we fund boards or we fund an aboriginal leaders' meeting, we do not break it down as to so much for accommodations, so much for other things. That would really be estimating and I do not think it would be particularly accurate. Thank you.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Supplementary To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the concern I have is when you are talking about a tax increase, there are some very clear numbers in terms of the amount of money that is expected to be raised. Considering the fact that the Government of the Northwest Territories is one of the biggest employers and users of hotels in the Northwest Territories and the agencies that they fund, the information is critical.
I would ask the Minister, as he looks at justifying this tax, can he speak with some certainty to the cost, and are his projections of $1.25 million accurate if he does not know how much the government is spending itself? Thank you.
Supplementary To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 404
Joe Handley Weledeh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The $1.5 million to $2 million estimate we have now is our best estimate. As I indicated in my return to the oral question, this information is not yet finalized, but if it is important to get some quick information. I am pretty comfortable that this is well within the range of expenditure for Government of the Northwest Territories employees' hotel costs. I will not say with certainty that it is exactly this amount though, Mr. Speaker.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.
Supplementary to Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question is, using government parlance, is this a class D estimate or a class A estimate?
-- Laughter
Could the Minister commit to providing us with a class A estimate that includes all government spending that is directed through self or subsidiary agencies to hotel accommodation? Thank you.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
Joe Handley Weledeh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the timeframe we had to pull this together, it is a class A estimate. We will continue, as I said, this is not finalized yet, and we continue to work on it. So over the next few months, as we finalize our estimates and get into consultation, certainly we will work to have as accurate information as possible. Thank you.
Further Return To Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Question 112-14(3): Proposed Hotel Tax Projections
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
July 3rd, 2000
Page 405
Bill Braden Great Slave
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for Mr. Antoine, the Minister responsible for Justice and the Fair Practices Act. We have resolved in this House and transmitted the message that it is up to the federal government to address pension benefits and bankruptcy and solvency legislation to make sure that workers' rights are better protected in the future.
My question for the Minister, under our own Fair Practices Act or other territorial legislation that might be brought forward to ensure that we do not find ourselves in a situation like this, what can we do with our legislation to help prevent this kind of thing in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Antoine.
Return To Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of Nwt Workers
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member is asking about what can we do so that the Giant Mine workers' pension problem does not occur again in the future. He asked again about our Fair Practices Act. Earlier on in a statement, another honourable Member talked about our Labour Standards Act.
In the Fair Practices Act in this government, this department is preparing a legislative proposal for a consultation paper and the preparation of draft human rights legislation to replace the Fair Practices Act. The human rights legislation would be there to deal with complaints and dispute resolution systems within Canada, which is similar to other places in Canada and that would also be suitable for the Northwest Territories.
So, in that light, it deals with equal pay for equal value and so forth, whereas the Labour Standards Act, which was referred to earlier on in one of the statements in regard to dealing with the issue of the Giant Mine workers, this piece of legislation is seriously outdated and in need of a major overhaul.
There was an attempt back in the 80s. There was a three man commission formed to look at this. As you know, the late Jim Evoy was part of this commission. During the time of his death, they were proposing the formation of a tripartite committee. At that time, there was a pressing nature of Nunavut being created and so forth, so this piece of legislation was put on hold.
Perhaps we should look at the Labour Standards Act and try to do some revisions to that legislation to deal with this type of situation, rather than dealing with the Human Rights Act. Thank you.
Return To Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of Nwt Workers
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
Supplementary To Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of Nwt Workers
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
Bill Braden Great Slave
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that information and that background. Under the labour standards legislation, are there specific things that we can do under the jurisdiction that we have, to help prevent this kind of thing from happening in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Supplementary To Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of Nwt Workers
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
The Speaker Tony Whitford
Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Antoine.
Further Return To Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of Nwt Workers
Question 113-14(3): Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers
Item 6: Oral Questions
Page 405
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice had an internal review done, a report on the Labour Standards Act, which was mainly federal legislation. We are undertaking the review of this report in the department. Following the internal review, the department will be preparing a proposal on public consultation for the consideration of Cabinet.
It is still in the early planning stages of changes to this legislation and with the whole move by the aboriginal groups to start building pipelines and so forth, I think there is some urgency to maybe speeding up this process and taking a close look at this piece of legislation. Thank you.