Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. I think a lot of work needs to be done here. I recognize that Commissioner's land that falls under MACA does tax improvements. Then the territorial land on which we have our own evaluation, I get different answers depending on where you are and whether there is any market in that land or the improvements have any value. There just seems to be inconsistency depending on who decided whether the land has any value because we're using two different assessments. I understand that we will have that resolved, hopefully, in 18 months. Where I was also going with this is: in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in my statement, during the course of the pandemic, we established a couple of managed alcohol programs, and they varied to an extent. Some were simply just delivering alcohol to people to prevent withdrawals, whereas, for example, the Arnica has established a much more elaborate managed alcohol program. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: given the kind of necessity of setting up these programs during COVID-19, what are the plans for the programs that have been established going forward post-pandemic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I get an understanding of how improvements to land fit into the assessment? Are we taxing improvements presently on Commissioner's, recreational, industrial, commercial, and the territorial lands? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm happy that we have a new Public Lands Act. I look forward to the day when it's implemented. I'm looking for an update on when we will see some changes in how we assess and we essentially tax land. I think it's fair to say right now that there are some inconsistencies in the system right now. You pay 5 percent on a residential lease on Commissioner's land and 10 percent on a recreational. Many people live on their recreational leases, and if they actually were allowed to, they would then pay less tax. Then we have territorial lands, and both are appraised differently...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I am glad to hear that explanation because I think the initial reaction I got from a lot of constituents was that, "We are just going to let a bunch of squatters get cabins?" I think this is probably a multi-year process and rather complicated. Can I just get conformation of that, the path forward where you would become an authorized occupant? Would it be pre-2015, you built a structure; does it have to meet all of the 2015 cabin lottery lease requirements, which were 100-foot setbacks, number of structures -- they are actually quite elaborate rules, looking at all...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I get a sense of how many unauthorized occupants or potential ones we have identified, either territory-wide or North-Slave specific? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to hear that. I think one of the frustrations, municipalities have experienced and why they're asking for this is that they often get confused of where Lands authorities starts and Municipal and Community Affairs authorities ends. I recognize that community plans will still have to continue to exist, and MACA will approve them. I have no issue of that. I think the frustration in the past has been MACA pointing to Lands and then Lands pointing to MACA. In regards to the City of Yellowknife, can I get an update of -- I understand we are working on getting a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I have an update on where we're at with developing a process guide for the transfer of land within municipal boundaries? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to try to remember that the Arnica is now called the Spruce Bough. I thank the Minister for continually getting that correct. My last question is that the overall goal in this is to reduce hospitalizations due to alcoholism, which is what managed alcohol programs are proven to do, but can the Minister speak to how we are going to track the effect of these programs on actually reducing hospitalizations? Can you speak to the data we are hoping to collect there? Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have asked this previously, if we can look at somehow lowering the assessment or the lease rate that agricultural leases pay. I know the lease rates are quite generous, but there are some perverse incentives here. Every time an agricultural lessee builds infrastructure, then their assessment goes up, and they end up paying more tax. There's a bit of a perverse incentive to build large greenhouses. I recognize we are only having to deal with six farms, but one day maybe that can be 12 farms.

As part of this work, can we look at a subsidized rate for agricultural leases? I...