Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank our Minister of Finance for going into the communities with his recent round of budget dialogue with Northerners. I am pleased that his open and honest approach with residents on how we should deal with our devolution monies and our Heritage Fund has been discussed. But – and this is where I depart from the mild-mannered Member for Range Lake – I am extremely disappointed and, most of all, infuriated at this same Minister who in last night’s budget dialogue with Yellowknife residents refused to take responsibility in responding to the question if we were capturing our fair share of economic rent for what we call, sometimes in this House, resource taxation, or commonly known as mining tax.

Before I go on my rant, let’s back up the bus first. The Department of Finance back in 2009 concluded that any such extra tax would be viewed as a double taxation. To that, I say hogwash. Then they proceeded to say such tax would be a disincentive to new resource development. I only need to say two things: Danny Williams and Newfoundland. Enough said.

Finally, my favourite, that this new resource revenue sharing with the federal government would be strained. This is where I yawn. That’s what I put in my Member’s statement.

The GNWT currently collects a corporate tax, a fuel tax, a property tax and a payroll tax from mining companies. While most provinces levy a mining tax in addition to the basic royalty rate, the NWT chooses not to. This is a fail. This mining tax is a standard practice in many jurisdictions and there is absolutely no reason to believe that such a tax would cause the mineral industry to suddenly stop exploring profitable opportunities in the NWT to favour other areas. Let’s face it, our first two major diamond mines were able to pay off their capital construction costs in less than three years, and with both of these mines net profiting over $37 billion annually, I hardly believe they would be poverty stricken with a mineral tax.

Furthermore, we have a golden opportunity if the GNWT would institute, today, a new mineral tax. Even with devolution, these revenues would not be clawed back. The territorial funding formula provides incentives for the GNWT to raise as much revenues as possible on its own. Any new revenues from new taxes are exempt from clawbacks for at least one year and after this period, 30 percent of the revenue raising ability is exempt.

This is a windfall, but the clock is ticking.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

The public owns its mineral resources on Crown land in the NWT. Our job, government’s job, the Department of Finance’s job and the Minister of Finance’s job is to capture a fair share of economic rent from mineral companies to ensure the public is appropriately compensated and that companies have fair returns.

Clearly, someone in this government didn’t get this memo and it’s clear that this current government is leaving money on the table at a time when they preach fiscal responsibility and accountability. This is shameful. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said yesterday, Yellowknife is number one; the Northwest Territories is number one. What was that again? We’re number one. Power rates continue to be the highest.

If you take 1,000 kilowatts here in Yellowknife, you have to pay over $300; 1,000 kilowatts in Iqaluit, $275. We continue to be number one and we get dwarfed by Whitehorse where a thousand kilowatts only charges you $146. We’re number one, thanks to the Premier in his old job when he re-engineered the power rates. He engineered the communities’ rates, which I am certainly happy that he did help them, because as I said yesterday, if you’re not on the hydro, I don’t know how you afford your power bill. But why didn’t we engineer some of Yellowknife power rates like we did?

We must find a way to make the cost of living liveable here in the Northwest Territories, certainly here in Yellowknife. It’s not an insurmountable problem. Find a way. Rather than being bureaucrats sitting on the seven stumps across the way, let’s be politicians, let’s be daring, let’s connect with our constituents on issues that matter to them. Even in talking to the Economic Opportunities Strategy, the Governance Council even recognized the fact that power rates hold Yellowknife back. It is seen as a negative, certainly not as a positive.

Thirty cents per kilowatt cannot help sustain our population. They cannot help the everyday blue collar worker. The working family suffers from this day after day after day as they try to get by. We’ve heard about rising fuel prices. No action. We need these costs of our power to come down to what is considered normal. Why spend millions and millions of dollars and on Come Make Your Mark? Who wants to live here at 30-some cents a kilowatt? People are leaving. The exit sign is certainly getting well used. I have heard this from countless people who leave the Northwest Territories because they

can be paid the same types of dollars elsewhere and certainly cut their cost of living easily in half. Every day we struggle. Every day working families struggle because of the cost of living. It is time we stop talking about this and demonstrate that as politicians we’re willing to do something.

I started off by saying we are number one. Yes, we beat Whitehorse, we beat Iqaluit and we lost 83 people from last year’s census third quarter. We peaked out. We lost 83 people since then and people are leaving. Why? Because the cost of living is killing Northerners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s time to do something.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few people in the gallery I would like to recognize today. Earlier today we had a press conference releasing the Economic Opportunities Strategy. With us today in the gallery we have Kathy Gray, the president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce; Mr. Kevin Lewis, the regional director with CanNor; and also a former mayor of Yellowknife, Gord Van Tighem, a member of the advisory panel. Welcome, folks.

Also with them is Ms. Kelly Kaylo, the assistant deputy minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I also want to recognize my colleague over in the Yukon Territory, the Honourable Wade Istchenko. He’s the MLA for Kluane and also the Minister of Highways and Public Works with the Yukon government. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to recognize a couple of constituents of mine, Elizabeth Anne Mackay from Fort Resolution and her daughter Karen Lafferty from Hay River. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Brittany and Lucyanne Kendo, originally from Tsiigehtchic. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to recognize a relative, my sister-in-law Karen Lafferty. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m really glad to recognize my partner Lucyanne Kendo and step-daughter Brittany Jewel Kendo. You guys are my heart. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize our past mayor of Yellowknife and resident of Weledeh, past mayor Gordon Van Tighem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I would like to welcome here my good friend Wade Istchenko. We worked together for the last 10 years with the Rangers and Junior Rangers, and if people only knew how many hours and months he put in with the Junior Rangers in the Yukon and all the good that you do, not only that but the work that you’re doing in making sure our Dempster Highway is always in good condition. Thank you, Mr. Istchenko. Welcome to the House.

And my good friend Beth Anne Mackay, president of NWT Dogsled, that she’s been putting in for so many years and trying to make dogsledding not a dying sport, and pushing forward to make it one-way transportation. Thank you, Beth Anne, for coming today, and your daughter, welcome.

I’d like to also wish my good friend Gord Van Tighem, with all the years that we worked together in the past, welcome to the House. It’s always good to see you.

To everybody here, thank you for taking interest in our proceedings today.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I spoke about so many housing issues, transitional housing and homelessness, and I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation some questions.

I’d like to know if the Housing Corporation has been working on any plans for transitional housing options for the regions and communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member had mentioned before on the core needs study that was done in 2009, and since 2009, as a government, I think we’ve spent over $151 million across the territory to try and

address some of the issues contained in that report. There was $17.5 million in Nahendeh alone, plus an additional $5.7 million, I think, we’re debating this year and I’m glad for that.

As far as working on transitional housing goes, we are currently looking at a new initiative where we’ll identify some communities that could possibly have one of our housing units there converted into a bit of a transitional home. It’s a start. It’s not going to address all of the concerns, but we need to start somewhere and we feel that’s a good start. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, that last report was in 2009. As I said, great strides have been done with that to take care of the housing that’s in core need. But for this House, one of our challenges is, of course, to address homelessness.

I know that the Minister is working with the Social Envelope Committee, but can he tell me a little bit about the strategy and what we’re going to do about the homeless, especially in the small communities?