Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of the Department of Transportation. I spoke earlier today about the airport infrastructure funding and that I'm aware that the Yellowknife Airport does, in fact, generate revenue through the forms of leases and rents and services provide to tenants and other users. Can the Minister tell us how much the Yellowknife Airport does currently earn from rents and fees and services charged to tenants and users of the airport? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that level of detail at the top of my head, so I'll have to get back to the Member with that number. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm going to move forward to another question because my second question would have relied on that answer, so I appreciate the Minister getting that back to us as soon as possible. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please describe how the determination was made to charge the amount of this user fee? How was the amount determined?
I'm assuming the Member from Yellowknife North is talking about the airport improvement fee. We had a consultant do a review of airports across Canada, similar size as Yellowknife Airport, and it was concluded that the fee that the airport improvement fee of $20 and $10 was justifiable to airports of similar size to us across Canada.
Then I think in order to determine what that fee would be and then using other airports to help determine that information that it would have also been known, and at least have been fairly up to date, as to what the current leases, rents, and service charges are being currently charged to tenants out at the airport. That said, Mr. Speaker, we know that we're in economic difficult times; we're in an economic downturn. Can the Minister describe if the department has done any work to determine what the induced effects of such a user fee would have on Yellowknife and the NWT economy?
When we looked at this, the big part of the improvement fees and landing fees for the Yellowknife Airport is to help turn around the operating costs of running the airport. We presently subsidize the airport by $4 million annually, which comes out of general revenue that could help support other initiatives in this House that we believe that we need to move forward; but the big thing with introducing this revolving fund to the Yellowknife Airport, it's also the largest airport in the Northwest Territories. It has 58,000 flights a year that land and come and go from this airport. There are a half a million people who go through the airport every year. So there is a possibility to raise substantial revenue that would help offset that $4 million, but also generate revenue where we would not have to subsidize the Yellowknife Airport.
With that being said, though, we can move on with having that additional revenue to create other opportunities at the Yellowknife Airport that would increase potential: more traffic through the Yellowknife Airport through direct flights from Asian countries as such; business opportunities. We've had a number of people approach the department already about the opportunities that lie ahead with us implementing this revolving fund and be able to improve the full facility of the airport from parking to making the terminal larger, to make it easier for security clearances so people aren't lined up all the way to the north end of the building, and these types of factors. So I believe as the Minister of Transportation that bringing the revolving fund forward for this airport is going to bring nothing but good for the Yellowknife Airport and the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the sales pitch that the Minister gave us; it relates to looking at the airport in a silo, but the question was more to do with the induced effects of such a charge and the effect it will have on the local economy and the cost of living. Has the department done any work to check into what kind of effects that this is going to have, a charge such as this will have on the local economy, including the cost of living? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, he's asked a couple of questions there; I'll answer the last one. The landing and the improvement fees are going to change a south-bound ticket by 3 to 4 per cent. On a north-bound ticket it's going to change it by 1 to 2 per cent, which is very minimal. The upside of this whole thing is the economic opportunities that this is going to bring to the City of Yellowknife in particular and to the residents of the Northwest Territories, and the economic potential outweighs any negative effects that I believe will happen to the citizens of the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
