Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and congratulate a constituent Wilfred Simon, better known as Rabbit, in the audience on his community wellness worker certification program. Welcome to the House, Rabbit. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the community wellness class here and congratulate them on their graduation. A constituent of mine, Byrne Richards is among this class. Byrne has demonstrated great leadership in this community through his work with the Tree of Peace on the addictions work in the city. Congratulations and welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I hope we haven't missed anyone in the gallery today. It is always a pleasure to have an audience. Welcome and enjoy the rest of your tour of Yellowknife. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In November of last year, I wrote to Minister Roland enquiring about our northern deduction. I am pleased to say that he did reply to me with a very positive response indicating that it was his intent to seek the support of other counterpart Ministers in the territories as well as affected provinces. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Finance Minister is, I would like to know what he has done to get any headway on this matter by bringing it forward to other Ministers to bring forward a united front to Canada about our northern deduction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since writing and responding to the Member regarding the northern residents deduction, we have had a number of events occur throughout the country, the election being one. We haven't had a Finance Ministers' meeting for quite some time. There has been very little work done in that area, but it is something that we will be pursuing here in the very near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in light of the federal election that he pointed out, our newly minted MP has pointed out that it is going to be one of his top priorities to bring forward the concern about the deduction and the effect it has on the North. What is this Minister of Finance doing to make sure that he has a briefcase full of facts and information that will directly affect the Northwest Territories in a positive way? Is he working with his department to make sure this MP is ready to take on this challenge for our North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I haven't had an opportunity to speak directly to the new Member for the Western Arctic. From within the department we have looked at the issue of the northern residents' deduction process and the impact it would have, both positive, and it would have an impact on our own revenue resources, as well, in the NWT. So we've done some work from within the department to prepare for our positioning. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister had mentioned about impacts and I'd like to lay a couple facts down. I have the annual inflation rate, which is from a Canadian web site for the federal government, and it said since 1988 inflation went up 147 percent in the Northwest Territories; since 1991, on the last $75 adjustment on that northern deduction, it's gone up 126 percent. So, Mr. Speaker, would this Finance Minister tell me today and make that commitment that he's going to put it as one of our top priorities in the next Finance Ministers' meeting, this northern deductions issue, to seek national support to bring forward a united front to the federal government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it'll be one of the issues, but our more critical ones are ones that I've announced already during the budget process of the fact that we need a new formula financing arrangement, we need to deal with our borrowing limit, we need to deal with resource revenue sharing. The northern residents' tax deduction will be something that impacts not only in the Northwest Territories, but the other two territories, our neighbours, as well as many of the provinces that would have parts of the zones that fall in their area. It is something that I will raise with them and proceed to try to move forward with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response by the Minister, but I do want to underscore

the fact that territorial residents, residents of Yellowknife, need real life solutions that they can feel in their pockets immediately, Mr. Speaker. So I'd like to hear how the Minister is going to put this into their little bucket of priorities, because I think this is something that we could move quite quickly on that people will feel immediately, rather than waiting for this resource revenue sharing agreement. So we need to hear what type of priority the Minister is going to put on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to have the tax system changed takes a fair bit of work and coordination with other jurisdictions. One of the first things to do is to contact other jurisdictions, which we have done. In principle, a number of them are supportive, but want to see more details as it would affect their equations, as well. So it is one of the areas that we have started to make some contacts with and then have to have further discussion. But it is something that affects other jurisdictions, as well, and we have to work together on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say first of all, that, as one of the Members has mentioned, we are spending $128 million a year; an average of $3,000 per resident as a subsidy. So every day we're doing what we can to help with the cost of living. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of initiatives underway. The one the Minister of Finance just referenced, that is with the northern residents' deduction. That is one that we will be looking at as an immediate way, assuming we can attract the federal government's interest in it. We also have a number of long-term issues we're dealing on. Energy costs is a big one, looking at hydro. Transportation costs. We're looking at creative proposals on Corridors for Canada and connecting Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast to reduce the transportation costs. One the honourable Member has mentioned often is reducing the cost of government, and that's one that's very much in consideration all the time as we're doing business as a government. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of other things we're doing on increasing employment. We all know that if more people are working, more people are earning incomes, then that is going to help to meet the rising cost of living in the North.

So, Mr. Speaker, there's a whole range of things we're doing all the time and we don't grumble about the subsidies we have to provide, the $128 million, but it is an ongoing cost to our government and a necessary one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.