Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 18, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - NDP MP Dennis Bevington had some words of criticism for the federal minister of Indian and Northern Affairs' recent comments on the NDP and the Northern Residents Tax Reduction.

Speaking on Wednesday from the 16th annual bilateral meetings of Canadian and Japanese Parliamentarians in Japan, Bevington, MP for the Western Arctic, said Strahl's July 15 comment that the NDP usually "don't have to deal with the overall budgetary reality," was an attempt to dodge the real issue.

"I think that's really a very feeble attempt at explaining their position on the Northern Residents Tax Deduction. From the very beginning everybody said it needs to go up by 50 per cent," said Bevington. "It was many, many years, 20 years, since it was last raised. The Conservative government did put it up by 10 per cent. They recognized that it needed revision.

"They didn't do the amount that should have been done."

On Strahl's opinion that if every NDP MP had their way with the country's finances, "you would have a budget of 200 per cent of the national GDP" - Bevington said that NDP governments across Canada have proven to be "extremely good and capable" at handling the publics money.

Bevington said increases in tax deductions for Northern residents are necessary given rising energy costs across Northern Canada.

"Wherever anyone is using diesel fuel for generating electricity or for heating their homes or for providing transportation for goods and services, their costs have gone up considerably when you consider that the federal government's collecting a lot more GST on additional fuel costs that Northerners are paying," he said.