Julie Green

Mr. Chair, I am really hoping third time lucky with this question. Yes, they did consultation. Who among those consulted said, "You should exempt the GNWT," in any form or fashion? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Chair, one of the challenges of this job, as a Yellowknife MLA, is that Yellowknife is usually considered in this legislature as just one of 33 communities, and of course, it is, but on the other hand, half of the population lives here, and it is the major economic driver of the entire territory.

Along comes the City of Yellowknife, and they want some independence to raise money, to market tourism, to grow that sector of our economy, and they do not get a lot of love from this government. Independence is to be frowned on. Being a chattel is the way of the future. They are...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have three documents to table today. The first is, "No place for poverty – NWT Poverty Update." Thank you. Continuing on, I wish to table a document entitled "Terms of Reference for a Special Committee on Transition Matters." Further, I wish to table a document entitled "Terms of Reference for a Special Committee to Increase the Representation of Women in the Legislative Assembly." Thank you.

Indicators are not measurements of poverty. They are indicators. It is something different. The indicators for food security shows that we have a pretty significant level of people who describe themselves as having moderate to severe food insecurity. Can the Minister tell us how the anti-poverty initiatives and funding in the NWT are made? Any improvement in this area?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can he tell us how the Federal Poverty Reduction Strategy will impact poverty in the NWT? Can he estimate how many people will move out of poverty by 2020? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the end of August the Government of Canada introduced its long-awaited and first-ever poverty reduction strategy. After years of telling advocates that poverty reduction was a provincial and territorial responsibility, the federal government has finally stepped up.

In 2015, one in eight Canadians lived in poverty, about 5 million people; a shameful number for a wealthy country like ours. The federal government has set a goal to reduce that number by 20 percent in the next two years, and the government's long-term goal is to further reduce poverty by half by...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Yellowknife is a tax-based community that is trying to enhance its own economy. This tourism levy is one of the means to do that, and to create its own revenue stream separate from the GNWT.

The City of Yellowknife is not generously funded by the GNWT. There is a substantial underfunding situation there. They need the ability to raise tourism levies for their own tourism marketing and economic sustainability. I do not support the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't find saving $250,000 on a $1.8 billion budget a very compelling reason to exempt the GNWT from paying this hotel tax, whereas it could provide a valuable economic driver for the City of Yellowknife to bring more tourists here, and as you, yourself, have pointed out, when Yellowknife is thriving, it tends to float more boats than just the City of Yellowknife. My next question is about the levy at the airport. I don't recall that there was any discussion about having exemptions there. So why are there no exemptions at the airport, but there is this list...

I think the term for that is "self-interest."

The next thing I want to ask about is why the Government of Canada wasn't exempted. In Alberta, the Government of Canada is exempted from hotel levies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us which of the list that the deputy just provided recommended that GNWT be exempt? Thank you.