Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member from Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today will be about this government's growing public service again. Mr. Speaker, I know this public service has many people who do very good work and are dedicated to making improvements in the lives of many northerners, be it in our large or small centres. Sadly though, Mr. Speaker, I can also stipulate with conviction that there are many who just don't give a hoot.

Some of the main reasons why I raise this issue is because of the many calls I receive from many of the smaller communities. Issues such as long-outstanding land issues; issues of land tenure, land transfer and property taxation, which have been going on for years without much progress; housing materials that are still in the crates because land transfers have not been completed to begin construction. Mr. Speaker, I understand there is a process in place, but I don't believe that it should take two years.

Issues of infrastructure deficiencies that have been ignored or buried in our bureaucratic cesspool. Why do children in Colville still have to use a honey bucket in school, Mr. Speaker? The upgrade to this was to put fur on the seat, Mr. Speaker. We are in the 21st Century and this is totally unacceptable. Infrastructure in our small communities are valued much more than in our larger centres, because people do not have as many options or programs readily available like they do in our larger centres. We cannot continue to ignore or put these concerns on the bottom of this government's priority list.

Mr. Speaker, I can go on and on about the little plights of our small communities, many of which can be resolved if only we have a responsive and responsible government that can wake up this public service and get them to look outside the box called Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Members' statements. The honourable Member from Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the first Friday of the month of February, and February is Heart Month. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the statement on the web site on the Heart and Stroke Foundation that it takes a village to build heart health, and I am also pleased to announce that I will once again be joining thousands of people across Canada and the Territories going door to door to collect donations for vital Heart and Stroke Foundation research, and distribute health information over the next two weekends.

Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to tell you that the NWT raised $34,000 in a door-to-door campaign in 2004, the latest stats available. This is quite a feat, given how cold and blusterous our weather can be.

Mr. Speaker, it should be known that cardiovascular diseases account for the deaths of more Canadians than any other disease. In 2002, the latest year for which Stats Canada has information, cardiovascular disease accounted for 74,626 Canadian deaths, placing more burden on our health care system than any other illness.

Mr. Speaker, 32 percent of all male deaths in Canada in 2002 were due to heart disease, diseases of the blood vessels and stroke. For women, the total was even high. Thirty-four percent of all female deaths in 2002 were due to cardiovascular disease.

Mr. Speaker, the Stroke and Heart Foundation research funds more than 60 percent of all the heart and stroke research money in Canada, and it's work that I'm proud to be doing a little part of it. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to just take

this opportunity to thank all the volunteer canvassers, and encourage everyone to open their pockets a little wider when they see the canvassers show up at their door, some of them very young volunteers and some of them may even be their MLA as I will be canvassing in Ward Crescent, and Jeske Crescent, and Jeske Court is in my riding. So I look forward to engaging with my constituents over the next two weeks for this cause. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to welcome any visitors we have in the gallery today to witness our proceedings. Welcome to the House. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I've stood up in the House before and questioned the Minister on consultation with Regular Members, and this is similar to that. I'm suggesting that consultation has to take place with the Regular Members on reductions. The $30 million reduction in the corporate tax revenue is a pretty substantive reduction. I'd like to ask the Finance Minister why is there no discussion with Regular Members on proposed reductions? Why do we, as Regular Members, approve extraordinary spending, but we have no say in extraordinary reductions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Member has raised the issue of consultation again, specifically in highlighting in his Member's statement the fact that I've, in the past, presented our fiscal situation and the strategies we'd have to work with, and how I guess he would put it, has selective memory of what I've stated. For the record, Mr. Speaker, when we've put the case before Members about where our situation was, I've also informed them why our arrangements were the way they were. So just for the record, Mr. Speaker, it wasn't the fact that we would say that we did not care if large corporations would file their tax outside the Northwest Territories. Our fiscal arrangement of the day impacted how we made our decisions.

Further to the question, Mr. Speaker, about consultation, is through the process of building the budget that's before the Members, through our supplementary appropriations for new expenditures, we undergo quite a rigorous process unlike any other jurisdiction in Canada -- the only one similar to us would be Nunavut -- in how we share the information and what our plans are. With the reduction scenario that the Member has raised, that was an area that we were informed of. I informed the House of our reduction in corporate taxes back in October, and that forced us to look at the overall budget and look for reductions. When you look at the amount we had to reduce, the target I sent to departments, in consultation with my Cabinet colleagues, was a one percent reduction. When you look at that scope of one percent over the whole budget of $1 billion, it's a fairly small amount and Ministers felt that they could take that amount and work it within the departments they were managing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my memory is fairly good on this and I know that the decision two years ago to go from 12 percent I think to 14 percent was the wrong decision at the time. The mistake has come back to haunt this government now for $30 million. I'd like to ask the Finance Minister if he's got any idea or indication of what that decision two years ago is going to cost the government going forward. Is it another $60 million? Is it $70 million? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the Member's memory and his comments are accurate about how he felt the decision we were making would have an impact. The impact that we've given, we've highlighted already in October. Now, the difference of our loss of corporate tax falls on two areas. One, the approximate amount of companies shifting where they would pay their taxes; two, probably more significantly, was how companies would refile their corporate income taxes. They have a three-year window where they can write off profits to previous losses so they can reduce the amount of corporate tax that they would pay, and that's what has hit us quite significantly in this fiscal year that we are in today. So it's not all about just having a higher tax rate; it's how companies can use the corporate tax system in their favour. What we've highlighted for loss for our corporate tax rate has been highlighted in the document that's going to be before Members for this year's upcoming budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Finance Minister for that. But I want to get back to the consultation. I think a $30 million restatement of corporate tax revenue is a pretty substantial thing. I think that it's incumbent upon the government to come back to Regular Members and ask us for an opinion, or consult us on where we think these reductions could happen, instead of just making decisions to go for a one percent across-the-board cut in all the various departments. Sure, the Ministers can handle it, but we had no idea or indication of where those cuts were going to come from. I think it's important, in our style of government, that that consultation take place. So I'll ask the Minister, in the future when there are reductions of that size or magnitude, will he at least just consult with us, ask us what we think? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In line with our consensus style of government and being an open and transparent government, gladly I would seek the Members' input on any reduction scenarios that may come up in the future. Hopefully as we're building our position and our case before the new federal government, we will be able to instead be talking about where we invest more dollars, not how we reduce the expenditures we're in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I talked about support for the Hay River volunteer fire and ambulance service. Members will remember I raised the issue of the inconsistency of support by this government to various fire and ambulance services across the Northwest Territories. In response to that, I know that there is a comprehensive strategy underway between the departments of MACA, Transportation, and Health and Social Services. But specifically to Hay River, what we have is a very well-trained volunteer fire department; we only get a $25,000 contribution to the local health board to operate that fire department. As resource development proceeds, our fire department not only serves the municipality, they serve the highway system east towards Fort Resolution and Fort Smith, south towards the border, and to the west towards Fort Providence, and this is quite a major undertaking. We need to be proactive in preparing for the amount of traffic and the demand that's going to be put on this volunteer ambulance and fire service in Hay River.

To that end, Mr. Speaker, we would like to come up with a plan specific to Hay River. I understand there's an overall overview plan being done for the Northwest Territories, but we want a plan specific to Hay River and we need money to commission that plan. There are five Ministers involved: Health and Social Services; MACA; Justice, under public safety; Transportation; and ITI, because a lot of this will be resource driven and we need $10,000. So any Minister of those five that I named, those five departments, that wants to give us $10,000, we'd greatly appreciate it. Perhaps I could direct the question to...I don't know who the lead is on it. Is it Mr. Miltenberger? Okay, Mr. Miltenberger. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of some concern for the Northwest Territories, the government, and all the communities in the North. We are working, as the Member has indicated, on a plan. In fact, Minister McLeod and I and our staff met yesterday, and we're looking at bringing a document forward that hopefully, over the next number of weeks, we'll be able to review the committee as well, that lays out some of our initial thoughts and recommendations in the interim as we look to how to rationalize the whole process.

In regards to the Member's request for $10,000, if the Member wants to give me her question, then I would be happy to sit down and we would look at it to see how we could best work with the community of Hay River within the work that we're doing, keeping in mind that they are doing a very important job, as well, to see how we could address that request. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize it's not always possible to give a yes or no answer on this particular day, but I perceive a positive response there, so that's good news. We're hoping that we would use such a plan even to perhaps leverage some money from industry, as well. Hay River is not often mentioned when we talk about affected communities for the pipeline. But when you look at the presence of industry that's going to be in the community, we feel a document like this could perhaps even alleviate some of the costs on this government for supporting of all it. Obviously, it's cheaper to support the existing infrastructure that's there and enhance that, than it is for industry to go out and create a stand-alone kind of support service for emergency services while they're in our community. So in taking an answer back to the community then, I guess, for the $10,000 that's required, does the Minister see that as a reasonable amount, and is this something that he sees being done by an outside consultant, or does he have any other options on how he might achieve this plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Hay River is to be commended for their proactive attitude. We're working with communities, for example, that do energy plans for all communities because it's a very important area that has a huge impact on communities. As we go forward with this particular initiative, we are going to be working with communities and regions on a community-by-community basis as we look at how services are structured in their particular region or community. So I would ask if you'd bring forward the detail of what you're asking, we will look at it, we will give it our best look with the folks that are involved and have experience in this area, of how best to proceed. Can we assist you with money, support, services in kind? Is there the talent in house? Those are questions that we can address. But I will assure the Member that this will be given very serious consideration, and it's a process that we're going to be engaging in from the 60th parallel right up to Holman.