Julie Green

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.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, November 1, 2018, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that, notwithstanding rule 4, when this House adjourns on November 1, 2018, it shall be adjourned until Tuesday, February 5, 2019; and further, that any time prior to February 5, 2019, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the speaker may give notice and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for somebody who is hungry today, I'm not sure they're going to be thrilled that there's a whole-of-government response. That isn't going to meet any of their immediate needs. Not only that, many of the people who are hungry today have parents who are hungry, and grandparents who are hungry. There is a poverty trap where people are unable to exit to have enough to meet their needs to actually make a chance in their circumstances. Is the Minister aware of this problem, and what is he doing about it? Thank you.

I appreciate that response. The Minister said there is a presentation next week at the anti-poverty roundtable on the Federal Poverty Reduction Strategy. Can he not tell us what impact this strategy will have on the NWT, as apparently the analysis has been done?