Robert Hawkins

Is the program open to agriculture products?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not my intention to break the promise of the Finance Minister when he says he’s holding the line on taxes, so he should be assured that I’m not trying to trip him up on that promise to the people of the NWT. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister of Finance be willing to come to a meeting, if I was able to arrange it, with the Hotel Association and even some municipality officials on this particular issue about creating the hotel tax initiative? That money could be targeted at the tourism industry, an industry that could use more money to help bring new dollars into our...

The Hotel Association as well as a number of people in the tourism organizations out there all would like a hotel tax. I think they’ve been advocating for this particular type of tax for some time now. This is not a new initiative that’s been suggested. The Minister talked about downloading it maybe to further governance but I don’t think that’s the ideal approach. What conditions would the Minister of Finance need to be in place or to see supported in order to make it a territorial hotel tax?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the NWT’s limited economy, tourism is one of the best opportunities to bring in new money to our North. One way being proposed to build upon that is being put forward by the Hotel Association. They support the creation of a territorial 1 percent hotel tax. Now, at first glance, that may seem counter-intuitive, Mr. Speaker, especially coming from business where they are saying we need a new tax, but that 1 percent hotel tax would add up on average as $1.50 per room each day, Mr. Speaker.

What they believe strongly in is this money would be new money generated to be...

Okay. I’ll take as a yes, we do on good faith.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m wondering if the Minister can give me some information on broadband infrastructure support. What does that actually mean in terms of is that equipment that we’re putting into the communities? Are we buying satellites, things of that nature, and is he able to give me some examples as to where we would see if it is infrastructure for that fact? Where we would see it? Thank you.

Although I’m confident, I sense a little bit of humour in the Minister’s answer. The way he said it, does he mean that it’s only prescribed to hunters and trappers or is it prescribed only for hunting and trapping? I’m just trying to get a clarification. If a hunter or trapper decides to, say, farm honey, as a matter of fact, would they qualify for the program? I just give that as an example.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a quick follow-up on the Community Harvesters Assistance Program. Although if you read the description, it is contributed to local wildlife committees which have been recognized about harvesting resources. Is this program specifically and only targeted to harvesting animals? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I suspect under the Municipal Towns and Villages Act they have the ability to create a hotel tax, but that’s not exactly what they would like. They would rather see it as an across-the-board, fair, even policy created by the Finance Minister and, if anything, allow it to be targeted at tourism initiatives, that it could be a tax targeted with a special purpose.

Mr. Speaker, is there apprehension from the Department of Finance to creating a territorial tax from doing this type of initiative or do they just not want to do the work? Because as I understand it, tourism wants it and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for a hotel tax which is being called upon by the Hotel Association asking the Minister of Finance to create such an initiative that could help support tourism initiatives in the Northwest Territories. What is the hesitation of the Department of Finance from simply creating a hotel tax that could be targeted to help support the tourism industry?