Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today about the high cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories, especially for the small businesses in the city, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when people see a long line-up for coffee at Tim Horton's or in one of the many popular mom and pop restaurants around town, people assume they must be raking in the money. Many of them are bringing in good revenue and some of the franchises are breaking national records, but, Mr. Speaker, the cost of doing business is taking away most of their profit margins making them wonder if they should continue to work 24/7 just to see more and more of their revenue be taken away by one government agency or another.
Mr. Speaker, there is a lot this government can do to ease the burden on this situation, and they are very disappointed that the latest budget did not have much in that regard. Mr. Speaker, according to the pre-budget submission by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, which works with about 230 small businesses in the North, says that the top five business burdens and business killers include a total tax burden, shortage of qualified labour, government regulations and paper burden, and ever skyrocketing WCB premiums. Mr. Speaker, WCB premiums, I can tell you, have almost tripled in the last three years, which is an issue I am going to be deal with at a separate time. Mr. Speaker, I would like to see this government reduce all of these burdens as soon as possible and I will be calling it to task during this session.
The shortage of labour, Mr. Speaker, is a huge issue. I was talking to one of the mom and pop restaurants. She was complaining that she had to go through 79 employees in the last year, and she was talking about that to a more high-end restaurant business in Yellowknife who came back to say he had to hire 250 employees just to see them go. It is a huge problem and it's about time the government spends more time trying to address that issue. If we spent as much time as we do on looking after ATCO...sorry, the Novel housing, for the small businesses, I think we might see some equity and equal opportunities for small businesses, as well as the big ones. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause