Don Stewart

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So one of the next steps we are undertaking, and I know departments have been working on that, is the detailed proposals around any forced growth or additional pressures they'll have, whether it's around some of the things that the Member mentioned, around enforcement, as well as public awareness and health programs, and those sorts of things. The actual administration side of cannabis, in terms of the costs around distribution and what the Liquor Commission would be involved in, is not a major cost driver, but I think, as the Member identified, it's the other areas around...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there were three main components to the review that the Minister had directed us to undertake. One was looking at the enforcement and licensing capacity, and the first was to recruit a new board chair. We were very pleased that we were able to find a highly qualified board chair, Ms. Sandy Aitken, and she has certainly taken up the challenge and is working well with the rest of the board members.

We are working with the board now to look for some board training opportunities in areas where they feel that that could be helpful to them, and then we are looking at the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. There was a rebalancing, if you like, between contract services and fees and payments; but I will just let the Member know what's in contract services. The main bulk of the money for contract services under human resources is for the Employee and Family Assistance Program and for the Leadership Development Program that we get support from elsewhere. Under fees and payments, there is the regional recruitment program, the new training positions funding that the Minister spoke of, and an Aboriginal development fund that we use to support specific training for Indigenous staff...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. In our taxation division, there are tax auditors in that group, and they are pretty much constantly auditing various filers to look at their records and making sure that we are getting the level of tax.

It's not so much an audit of the entirety. It's a rotating audit of all of the various tax collectors that we would have on those, as well as some of the big payroll tax payers and those sorts of things. We have a unit where that is their business, to do those audits with businesses and with tobacco tax folks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Each department tends to have an access to information coordinator to deal with their own individual requests that come in for information from their department. The function within Justice sets the overall policy frame and coordinates across government, but each department has their own staff, who are usually related to records, that help answer those questions as they come in and get the records and those sorts of things. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, when we forecast the take from personal income tax as well as corporate tax, we work with Finance Canada. I think the Member can appreciate that you do not have the full benefit of all of the tax filing when you are doing those estimates.

In the case of the 20172018 revised estimates, where the personal income tax went down quite significantly, the reality is that Finance Canada had overestimated the amount. What they discovered is that there were some, what they described as, “tax behaviours” that they did not account for, that were a result of some of the changes at the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The Member is right. So the first column would be the estimated balance that will be in place at the end of this fiscal year, and then the second one is the balance for the next fiscal year, so by March 31, 2019. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. As the Member noted, we did make the changes and increased the eligibility for the NWT Child Benefit. So far, since those changes have been made, there has been an average of 2,200 or so, approximately 2,200, families receiving that benefit. Prior to that, there were about 1,493 families, so there are about 700 more families who are now receiving that benefit than were previously. Obviously there would be costs with increasing the threshold level that would have to be considered along with other priorities, but there has been a significant expansion in terms of the number of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. As the Member pointed out around the travel and the audits, we certainly have had several discussions with CRA about that. I am sure the Member is aware that they have proposed a solution, but it will take some time to implement that. We have followed up with them to see if there are things that we could expedite to move those changes or other options around some of the suggestions that have been made to maybe make that an easier process, but it is a federal program. We will continue to push, but, at the end of the day, the federal government will have to decide what they...