This is page numbers 131 - 159 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 1st Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.

Topics

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I touched on the community access road program. We do have federal dollars now that we are plugging into in regards to $33 million of capacity funding. Is there a possibility that the Premier and his Cabinet could look at the possibility of expanding the community access road program to expand the amount of money that is allocated to the community access program? Right now it is $50,000 per year. Maybe we can take some of that federal funding, put it into this program, increase the allowances that are allowed for that program so that we really can make a difference to communities to access their gravel sources, such as $2 million per project.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we have entered this cycle, we are preparing to come forward once we have our discussion about the overall priorities of the 16th Assembly, look at the interim

appropriation, for example, to carry on before we come forward with our full budget which would be in early spring, May or June. At that point, the requests for additional money, change of programs, we would be willing to work with Members, again looking at the overall priorities of the 16th Assembly. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the Premier’s commitment, I do believe, as a

government, we have the unique programs out there. We have developed them over the years. But I think it is the lack of real adequate resources that are in those programs that really make them work. I think I mentioned the community access program. It is a good idea. It is a good initiative, but it is limited on the amount of resources that is in it. As a government, I think we should look at programs that do work and put more resources into them and make them accessible to all communities throughout the Northwest Territories to make sure that it is not generally just to a couple of regions or a couple of communities, that we are able to develop a lot of our smaller communities who have all of these challenges by way of infrastructure. I would like to ask the Minister, would the Premier consider looking at the possibility of expanding this program by putting more resources in it to make it more deliverable and accessible for our communities?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to agree with the Member on putting more resources where programs are working. As an Assembly, we are going to have to go through the exercise of coming up with some of those key priorities and then try to find the funding to put into those areas, but we are going to have to look at how we do that. There are going to be challenges across the board. We are going to have to reallocate internally, as well. We need to have that discussion. As I committed, we will do that through our business planning process. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, also I would like to encourage the Premier to build partnerships outside of governments, outside of communities and also with aboriginal governments. I know the aboriginal community is interested in different projects to assist their communities. I would like to ask the Premier if he would like to consider the possibility of getting by aboriginal governments, corporations, development corporations, so that they can move on some of these projects.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is those kinds of partnerships that will help in the delivery of key infrastructure in our communities. The more that that type of partnership can come forward and can help us and we help each other by bringing our resources together, that is something that we definitely have to look at. So we would be open to those types of discussions. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think my question is for the Premier. A lot of people are involved in activities where they consume petroleum products in the North that have nothing to do with using our roads and yet there is a road tax component on gasoline and diesel. I am thinking along the same vein as the folks involved in agriculture who need petroleum products, and people involved in the commercial fishing industry. I don’t know why fuel for their vessels should be contributing to a road tax. Also, harvesters that are involved in traditional hunting and trapping activities are all paying a tax. Their activities would be more sustainable if their costs of doing business would be lowered. Why can’t we, as a government, come up with a way of not creating a cumbersome administration on trying to decipher at the point of sale what is going to be used for what purpose, but why can’t we come up with a receipt program just like you would when you file your income tax and if you own a small business, where you are allowed to submit receipts for a rebate based on certain activities? Why couldn’t we come up with something like that to alleviate the cost of living on some of these activities that have nothing to do with roads? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the last time there was a differentiation between the type of gasoline for transportation versus agriculture or fishing, I recall many years ago it was referred to as purple gas. It was used in equipment outside of transportation. We, as the GNWT, hadn’t put that in place. We could look at options of doing that. We would recognize a certain amount of lost income. The problem I think that becomes bigger is the administration of something like that. How it would work is something that we would have to work around, as well. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think we did determine that trying to determine the use of the product at point of sale was too difficult and too cumbersome. It is understood and agreed we can’t do that. We can’t even keep track of the difference between stuff going for diesel for home heating fuel to diesel going for filling your vehicle. We can’t even keep that straight. So I don’t suggest that we try to do it at the point of sale. What I am suggesting is that somehow when people file their personal income tax return and they are involved in those activities which are included in their return, that they be able to submit receipts and get a rebate for the portion of the tax related to on road. That is what I am suggesting. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that area would take a fair bit of work as we work with the federal government in collection and remittance of our personal income tax in the Northwest Territories. I am sure there are ways of looking at our portion to see if we can make something like this happen. As we know, there are other ways already. If you have a small business, you can remit receipts for certain areas and have an impact on your taxation side. I would have to look at that if that is already available to people in this area, but that’s something we can look at working at.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Time for question period has expired; however, I will allow the Member a supplementary. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, if it’s difficult to do that with the federal government, what about the people involved in these activities just submitting these receipts to this government for a rebate on the fuel for the tax portion only related to roads? That should not be too difficult to administer. Just submit their receipts in these activities for a rebate on their fuel purchases. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The one thing I have learned having the Finance portfolio and the whole taxation side and how fuel moves from one location in the territory to another or even from one tank to another, how the categories can change. The big issue will be, as we look at developing a program, is how it would be administered and how do we ensure people are putting the right claims in is an area. That’s something we can work on. I think it’s an interesting area and I would be prepared to sit down with Members to see if we can work this out a little further and look at what we might be able to bring forward. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I was asked to raise this by the Territorial Farmers’ Association and I realize that it may be cumbersome, but the cost of doing business is continually going up. The price of the product is not going up. This is discouraging people from being involved in any of our renewable resource sector activities that are not involved with roads. The cost of fuel, it’s going to be an all-time high now again. I look forward to working with the Minister on trying to find some way of alleviating the cost of doing business in these sectors. Thank you.