Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have to look at as a government when we put out for positions to have filled by residents of the Northwest Territories is the type of function and other parameters we have to work within in having people be successful in applications when they apply for that position. We can't just set targets and say there's a 20 percent requirement here, let's fill it with persons with a disability, or that are from a different part of the territory, or aboriginal descent, 1922-ers or whatever we call, as well. The fact is, first and foremost, as we put out positions that are to be filled to do jobs for this government is we have to look at the role of that job and take in the affirmative action policy as it sits. I've already stated we are working on a paper, an employment equity policy that hopefully will address concerns around affirmative action hiring in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I take issue with what the Minister has to say because if you use his rationale, you know, it's completely backwards here because I know this government tries to get a workforce that's representative of the population that it serves. Direct appointments are made under the affirmative action policy to P1 candidates. It happens all the time and this government does it. I've seen it happen. But yet when it comes to persons with disabilities, direct appointments are nowhere to be found, Mr. Speaker, absolutely nowhere to be found. I'd like to ask the Minister, will he look at some proactive approaches to increasing the number of persons with disabilities that are able to gain employment with this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government we're always willing to look at suggestions of possibilities here and I would hope that

when we bring forward the employment equity policy here for discussion with Members, that we will have a good dialogue on what options are out there and opportunities that we can improve on our hiring practices as a government. So, yes, we're willing to look and sit down and discuss what options we might be able to implement as we move forward.

The other issue is, just for the record, Mr. Speaker, when we use direct appointments as a way of putting people into positions within the Government of the Northwest Territories, it is not under the affirmative action. We use the affirmative action as some of the criteria. Questions are asked if it does fit with that program and how it would apply. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the area of finance, every year when we prepare our business plans we look at our options, all our tax rates, whether in fact the requirement for spending by this Assembly drives up the requirement for more cash, we would look at revenue opportunities as well as our competitive situation in the sense of possibly reducing our tax situation. The small business rate we have in the Northwest Territories, in fact, when we look at other jurisdictions and we do a comparison, is one of the lowest in Canada. Alberta government is in fact lower than us, yes, but at the same time we have to look at all the avenues we have and impacts of making further changes. But we do a comparison with other jurisdictions. In fact, as a result of the federal government's announcement of increasing their threshold for small business companies that qualify under small business, that has an impact on us, as well, and will help northern small businesses. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to that I'm going to have to be very careful to make sure that I'm clear with my question here. The follow-up to that, Mr. Speaker, is that I know that the Minister is aware, and I understand that the income level that small businesses will be eligible for this low tax rate will go up from $300,000 to $400,000, which is a good thing, but not too many businesses in the North make that much. What is also important is to raise the tax rate for those who are making first $300,000 and I'd like to know whether or not...The government has suggested reducing small tax rate in exchange for getting rid of BIP. One of the questions raised yesterday was, why should we make some businesses suffer in order for us to get something that other, even big corporations, the government may change its big corporation taxes to be on par with the rest of the jurisdictions. So I'd just like to ask the Minister if he could understand my question because I'm trying to do what I can to explain, but this is a pretty dry area. So I'd like to know if the Minister will make a commitment to review this to see what we can do to help small businesses who are going to be undergoing a lot of cost risers over the next number of months. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Should I just say yes, I understood the question and go from there? The fact is, yes, we do recognize the impacts of the high cost of living on the Northwest Territories small businesses. That is why there has been a steady trend since the 1990s when the small business tax rate was in fact in the area of 10 percent and the last reduction I believe happened in 2003 when we reduced it from five to four percent. With the changes in the federal government, there will be an impact to this government's revenues because of the amount of tax applied to the small business. The threshold has increased, as the Member has stated. We keep that in mind whenever we start our business plan process, when we weigh the avenue of either trying to raise more income for our budget process or tell departments that there's less money to spend. So it is something that we have to wrestle with on every cycle we go through in business plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated already, Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding for a lot of small businesses they may, it's not how much revenue you get, it's, you know, after you take out the expenses from revenue, and for a lot of businesses if they make

$300,000, anywhere near that, they're doing really good. But a lot of people don't make it that high. I think that's why the government needs to look at reducing those tax rates up to $300,000. Could I ask a specific question to the Minister? Could the Minister provide us with how much small business income tax this government has collected over the last five years and what the outcome was as a result of changing the tax rates from five to four percent, as it is now? Could I get the commitment from the Minister on that? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the way our tax system works, all corporations in the Northwest Territories are eligible for the small business tax rate up to $300,000. In this case, now up to $400,000. So we'd have to provide information on all corporations in the Northwest Territories, not just those that had less income and only qualified for the small tax rate. We could maybe sit down with the Member and try to get more specific to what questions or answers she'd like to see in that area instead of providing a whole slew of information that might not be too useful. I'll gladly sit down with the Member and go through that. Our competitive tax rate, when we look at it, we are on par with most other jurisdictions; In fact, lower. There's only two jurisdictions lower than ourselves, that being Alberta as well as, I believe, New Brunswick. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think there's a lot to be gained by having exchanges here as well as in private offices. Mr. Speaker, could I get the Minister to provide me with the information as to how much it would cost the government to change the income tax rate for small businesses up to $300,000 -- I'm not going $400,000 -- just up to $300,000 to match the Alberta rate? I think we have serious problems in Yellowknife being a big, major centre. Even though the economy is booming, we're not seeing a lot of people staying here. A lot of people are moving; we can't be competitive with northern Alberta, our closest competitor. So I'd like to ask the Minister to give me a figure on how much it would cost the government to reduce their rate to match the Alberta rate because, you know, the government...

Thank you for your question, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we'll get those numbers. Right now my understanding from the estimates I have is the Alberta government's small business tax rate is three percent. We're at four percent. So we'll provide that information.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation. We are in year one of a three-year plan to accommodate or build, construct 530 units, whether they're multi-plex or homeownership, across the Northwest Territories. Today I spoke in my Member's statement about the need for gravel in communities without year-round access for a source of ground material. I'd like to ask the Honourable David Krutko, the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation, can the Minister tell me whether access and stockpiling of granular material for the construction of building lots is part of the Affordable Housing Strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.