Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to all the Members for the significant effort that went into developing the GNWT's mandate. With the acceptance of the mandate, the government will have the strategic direction to proceed to advance the priorities identified by the 18th Legislative Assembly. As we start to begin the planning to start making decisions to advance the mandate, we cannot ignore our current economic realities. As Members heard in my fiscal update, our economy has not recovered from the global economic and financial crisis of 2008. The five-year outlook for the NWT economy is not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the timing of the elections and the need to get our budget through, for this particular year our plan is to proceed with working with committee and we're hoping that we get a lot of feedback from the public through the Members of this Assembly. We've heard from a number of people their views on the budget, but given the timing of the election and our need to get the budget through, it was not in our plan to do an actual public consultation this year. However, that may change in the future when we have a bit more time to develop our business plan and...

The Canada Winter Games 2023 is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the city of Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories to those across the country with the national exposure it will get as far as media coverage goes. As far as a hotel levy, I think there are some amendments that need to be made to municipal legislation that would allow the local municipal governments to, through bylaw, create, collect, and administer levies on hotels. Until that legislation is done there is nothing stopping them from creating a destination-marketing fee that would apply only to the city or to each...

One of the things we need to remember is that it is seven years until the Canada Winter Games in 2023, and there are seven GNWT planning cycles prior to that. This gives us some time and flexibility to come up with the necessary funding to support our part of the Canada Winter Games.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit to the Member that I will have a discussion with the sporting sector as to the involvement of all those, including the Government of Northwest Territories, because we want to ensure that our selection process is fair and gives all those athletes in small communities the opportunity to participate in the games. I can say that from experience that two Arctic Winter Games ago we had 27 of the 33 communities that were actually represented by athletes. I think that's indicative of all the good work that goes on out in the regions, in small...

There would obviously be information shared with the public as to the trials that are going on. I think the regional trials are normally run by the folks in the region. They have their way of getting the word out there. But again, there's an expectation that, and I believe on the Sport North website, there's also opportunities for knowing which trials are coming up. Being an Arctic Winter Games here, there's an expectation that all the athletes that plan to participate know of the trials coming up. I will review that, though, and see exactly how the call goes out for athletes wishing to...

The evidence points to the fact that our expenditures are rising a lot quicker than with our revenues, and with our limited base, we would put a terrible burden on those that are paying taxes. It could work both ways. We may have folks leaving if they're paying too many taxes or we could have folks actually come into the territories if we provide opportunity and a fairly steady, predictable tax rate. Again, as I said before, we will commit to working with committee. We have committed to working with committee in reviewing our budget and our options, and I need to point out that Newfoundland...

We're not hoping the public responds; speaking from past experience, we do know that the public is fairly plugged in and they do respond to a lot of the issues that we raise in this House. I take the Member's point, though. I'll work with the department to see if there's an online tool that they could use as far as public consultation goes. To actually go out and visit the communities at this late stage of the game and the amount of money that it may cost, may not bring much value at this point. However, as I said before, we would consider doing something when we're developing the 2017/2018...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to provide Members with more background on our fiscal situation. As Members heard on February 16, 2016, the federal Finance Minister announced a partial restoration of $24 million in annual Territorial Formula Financing funding lost through the unintended consequences of the data methodology revisions. While this is welcome news, the GNWT has already included a scenario in its fiscal forecast presented to Members that included the partial restoration of the Territorial Formula Financing. The problem, however, has not changed. The GNWT...

Speaking as the Minister responsible for Infrastructure, I can tell you that if the City decides to proceed with the bid, and subject to direction from the Financial Management Board, the NWT Housing Corporation is prepared to enter and negotiate a 70/30 split on the construction of an athletes' village that will meet the needs of the Canada Winter Games and the NWT Housing Corporation for public housing. Given the expected increase in the number of seniors, this would also be a project that would benefit the seniors in the Northwest Territories as well. There is a possibility that we can use...