Mr. Speaker, I am aware of a couple of businesses that have lost contracts to southern companies. Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to get into a dialogue on the floor of the House about those two businesses, but perhaps what I could do is get the Minister to commit to sitting down and reviewing these two cases so that it doesn’t happen again and so that the value added stays in the Northwest Territories. These companies employ people, Mr. Speaker. They pay taxes here. We shouldn’t be getting things manufactured in Winnipeg and shipped north into our communities, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Value added is a priority of this government. Certainly we require it of all developers that come north. Certainly I would be very pleased to discuss with the Member the two situations that have been brought to his attention so that we can bring redress to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, with the process underway to review the Business Incentive Policy in the Northwest Territories, could the Minister let us know what focus there will be on manufactured goods in that review of the Business Incentive Policy? Thank you.

It was not our intention to put a focus on manufacturing with the review unless it was brought up as part of the consultation process. Right now it is being addressed through a directive of the government, but certainly, if it is brought forward as an item of importance through the consultation on the Business Incentive Policy, we will look at it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Finance and it’s in regard to the tax collection. Mr. Speaker, one of the issues that’s often raised here in this House is about trying to get Northerners to live in the North to make sure they pay their taxes in the North. A constituent brought forward an issue, a potential idea on how to collect taxes. They asked why can someone work in a specific area of Canada and not have to pay taxes in that area. In other words, if someone works here in the North at a mine and they make the lion’s share of their income here, why aren’t there rules that oblige them to file their taxes in the Northwest Territories?

I guess my point really is, it doesn’t restrict them where they can work, it doesn’t restrict them where

they can live, by no means, but it builds a framework as if the money was made and earned here in the North, then shouldn’t they perhaps be filing their taxes here in the North.

Mr. Speaker, my question directed to the Minister Finance is: Has any work ever been done under that type of philosophy to consider that if you earn your money in the North, you should be filing your taxes in the North? Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This issue has been looked at over the years. There are mobility issues. There are tax harmonization issues. The national understanding is you pay your income tax based on where you live at this point, which is why we have such a great concern about the fly-in/fly-out workers. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, although I haven’t researched this extensively, as I understand it, when people follow their jobs and do their work outside of Canada, there are circumstances where people get paid outside of Canada and then when they come home, therefore, they don’t have to pay the taxation dollars here. I guess the same philosophy kind of makes me wonder why can we allow certain circumstances to exist on a national level, then why can’t we proceed by pursuing this ability. Because it doesn’t affect the mobility issue if we ask them or require them to pay in the North. Specifically to the question, has any research been done to focus in on getting people to pay taxes here not to infringe on their mobility issue of where they work? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if there was an ability to make sure that all the personal income tax was paid that was earned in the North and was paid in the North, we would be doing that. That capacity is there right now that if you live and work in the North, you pay your tax in the North. If you work in the North but live in another jurisdiction then that’s where you file your income tax. We haven’t found a way around that particular circumstance yet. Thank you.

Well, Mr. Speaker, for the cost of a piece of paper perhaps, and a little bit of ink, would the Minister of Finance be willing to write the Government of Canada would they consider that type of philosophy or is there an avenue for us to approach that type of philosophy that would have people file more taxes here in the Northwest Territories? Because the money earned should in some way, in some manner, stay here in the North where it certainly belongs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to look for ways to ensure that we keep the maximum amount of revenue and income in the North, which is why we’ve done things like the payroll tax, because it was a way to get some of that money to stay in the North. We’re going to continue to monitor. I’ll give the Member the commitment that we’re going to continue to monitor that and all the regulations that are currently there and if there is any change that allows us to be able to, in fact, ensure that all taxes are paid in the North, we will definitely take advantage of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the willingness and I certainly know we have some very smart people in the Department of Finance. My concern isn’t necessarily about their abilities in the context of that. The fact is, I’m wondering, can the question be posed to Canada by asking would there be a way or certainly would they stop us if we put that type of legislation in place that would require people to do that. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister is concerned about the cost of the stamp or the cost of the envelope and those things, I’ll certainly front the cost out of my own pocket. All I’m asking the Minister is would he be willing to put that type of question in writing to Canada to get some details? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’m glad to see that the Member is prepared to put his money where his concern is. What I will do is pull together a brief package that I will share with the Member in committee so that we can all look at what the current circumstance is before we possibly fire off letters that we know the answer to or that will put us in an awkward position. What I’ll do is commit to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment. I understand that earlier today talks broke down between the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Arslanian Cutting Works, which is a pretty bad thing. It looks like they’re getting pretty close to laying off 37 employees at that facility, which is unfortunate because although they’re losing a significant amount of money, they’re committed to the North, they’re committed to a northern diamond

polishing secondary industry and they’re committed to their employees who they want to continue to employ. They’re looking for some level of commitment from the government to find some solutions here and I’m wondering if the Minister could tell me what was the nature of the collapse of these talks and where is the government’s commitment to work with these organizations to ensure that we don’t lay off more people and we continue to have a secondary diamond industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a long-established Diamond Policy in the Northwest Territories and we’re not going to take a knee-jerk reaction to some threats that were made on a moment’s notice. I think that we are quite prepared to work with the company in question to see the secondary diamond industry continue. We will need to take a longer-term approach to it and we will need to ensure that the Members of the standing committee are well aware of the discussions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the Minister, have negotiations or discussions with Arslanian, in fact, ceased or are they still ongoing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, this morning we had a meeting and we were advised that unless we made some immediate changes to our Diamond Policy, that there would be other action taken. We found out this morning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

They’ve outlined a couple of commitments that they are looking for the GNWT to work with them on and one of them was that they want to pay the same price for rough from Ekati Mine that BHP actually charges to customers in Antwerp. I’m wondering if there’s any room for negotiation on this between this government and Ekati. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The diamond mines operate with the diamond cutters and they have contracts that they have signed and it’s not within our purview to interfere in those contracts. We had possibly looked at other arrangements but we haven’t been able to reach a conclusion on those matters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.