Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise Members of new information the government has received very recently, which has required us to review our fiscal situation and revise the fiscal outlook I provided to this House on October 14th.

As Members are aware, the federal government administers income taxes, both personal and corporate, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. On Friday, October 21st, the Department of Finance received information from the federal government that our corporate income tax collections for the 2004 taxation year are approximately $30 million less than previously estimated. This reduction has also affected our forecast of corporate income tax revenues for 2005 and for future

years, and significantly reduces the budget surplus figures I provided to Members on October 14th.

I would stress that these are preliminary numbers.

Nevertheless, Mr. Speaker, this revenue reduction is very disturbing news, given that the NWT economy is growing rapidly. With the level of economic activity we are seeing, we would expect tax revenues to grow, as well. We will be working with the Canada Revenue Agency to determine the reasons for the decline.

The uncertainty we face with respect to our tax revenues is magnified by further uncertainty surrounding our formula financing arrangements with Canada for 2006-07 and beyond. Until we hear the recommendations of the federal Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing and how the federal government intends to act on those recommendations, our fiscal outlook is difficult to predict.

This situation points, more than ever, to the need for an adequate resource revenue sharing agreement with the federal government. Such an agreement must provide the Northwest Territories with enough revenues to withstand the impact of sudden changes to our fiscal situation.

In this environment, Mr. Speaker, it is only prudent that we examine the expenditure side of our budget. In fact, the fiscal responsibility policy that this government adopted earlier this year requires us to bring spending in line with our revenues. We will be looking at means to do this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause