Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for their responses. Nothing further.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know we talked about the liquor revolving fund a little earlier. My specific question is whether the government has money to put aside to start up cannabis sales; that is, they have to buy the cannabis in order to re-sell it. So where is the money for that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks again to Mr. Stewart for that response. Can he give a very high-level view of what the audits show? How much leakage is there in these areas in noncompliance paying? Thank you.

Thank you, I appreciate the Minister's commitment to do the research on that. I also agree with him that we need to find ways to generate more own-source revenue to pay for this and other things that will increase the wellbeing of the residents of the NWT. Leaving that segment aside, I am going to move on now to the corporate and administration costs of the deputy secretary of FMB. I note that costs have gone up by almost $1 million this year, and I am wondering what the reason for that is? Thank you.

Thank you to Mr. Stewart for that answer and to the offer of the additional information. I will leave that category.

Still under the category of taxation on page 140, the fuel tax and the payroll tax, does the GNWT audit these taxes for compliance? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my questions are about the NWT Child Benefit, which is referenced on page 153 and on page 154. Mr. Chair, in November, Alternatives North had an economist recalculate the living wage for Yellowknife, and it also included the additional benefits that have been offered to families by both the NWT and Canada in the form of child benefits. The result of that work was that the family with two income earners did not qualify for the child benefit because the threshold for receiving the benefits was too low, and that is in spite of the fact that the income that this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am going to have another run at that question that I tried in the wrong place. So what I see on page 140 under taxation, personal income tax, is that the estimate of income tax to be collected in this fiscal year, about $82.5 million; in the next fiscal year, about $103 million? I am wondering why the Department of Finance thinks there will be a rebound of over $20 million in this area. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I have a process question. I have some questions that relate to page 140. Will those be canvassed when you go back to page 139?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my last question in this area is whether the Minister anticipates having approval to increase the borrowing limit within the life of this 18th Assembly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that commitment. As I said in my statement, I am not asking the Minister to raise taxes. What I am asking for is for him to work with the Standing Committee on Government Operations to set the terms of referenced for an evaluation of NWT tax policy and to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on that so that we can generate some discussion about revenue prior to the end of the Assembly. Can the Minister make that commitment? Mahsi.