Thanks, Mr. Chair. It looks like I am going to have to have some questions ready for public accounts in April. Thanks. That is all I have on this one, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you. I was basically along the same line of questioning as Mr. O'Reilly. One area that I am looking for clarification: the witness indicated that they used some of that $2.7 million accumulated surplus to pay down old assets or buy new assets. Aside from that, are the purchase of all of the assets to date in capital assets and then they are under the accumulated debt for the GNWT as a whole? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. McCormick.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As previously stated, the assets will be disclosed in the financial statements of Marine Transportation Services. The assets would be recorded as a liability. The amounts included in special warrants, et cetera, would be recorded as liabilities, the assets as assets. The difference between the assets and the liabilities of the revolving fund are the accumulated surplus. That is where we build up operating room to make debt repayments, purchase new assets, and that. They would be shown on the financial statements of MTS. The assets are ultimately owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories. We are not a separate legal entity. We are a division of a department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. Beaulieu. Seeing nothing further. Yellowknife Airport Revolving Fund. Mr. Vanthuyne followed by Mr. O'Reilly. First, Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple questions to get us straight here on the revenues first. The non-aeronautical revenue, is that the new landing fee? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne, would you like to clarify? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it is called the Airport Improvement Fee. Page 264, aeronautical and non-aeronautical. I am wondering if the non-aeronautical is the new Airport Improvement Fee revenue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Clarification from the Minister. The only visitor in the gallery, His Worship, Mayor of Hay River. Welcome. Mr. Vanthuyne asked an exceedingly complex question. The witnesses are diligently flipping pages. Minister.
We have it straight here. The non-aeronautical fees are things like parking, leasing, and AIF, Airport Improvement Fee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the clarification. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay. I appreciate that. In the aeronautical, which I know we have charged for some time, even before we developed the Airport Revolving Fund, there is a significant jump being proposed from last year to this year. Is that because we have made an increase to those aeronautical fees? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. McCormick.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The biggest difference there would be these are an information item strictly related to the Airport Revolving Fund. The 2017-2018 estimates would be for a partial year after revolving funds came into effect; 2018-2019 would be for a full year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Further, Mr. Vanthuyne?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay. That makes sense. I guess what doesn't make sense there is that we are pretty close on the non-aeronautical fees. Sorry. It is about $1 million difference. Okay. That makes sense. Now, we are going down to the bottom. It looks like, once we look at our accumulated surplus at the end of the year, there is going to be close to $3 million there. At what point are we going to start to undertake some capital projects based on the plan for capital improvements to the airport, Yellowknife airport? When are we going to start investing some of this money? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, for those of you who have been out at the airport lately, the gift shop renovation is already underway. We have a contract for a 20 year master plan for long-term strategic planning awarded to Stantec, and that is an expected completion in October of 2018. The relocation of the oversight baggage facility to create more passenger queue space at the checking area, we expect completion in the spring of 2018; development of a tender to secure a contractor to complete design and geotechnical work for the new de-icing bay; implementation plans for beginning and finalization for installation of common-use terminal equipment and automatic check-in, expected in the summer of 2018; design work underway for additional parking space near main terminal and a text-message-based vehicle pickup lane; and discussions with businesses interested in expanding their cargo profile at the Yellowknife airport are ongoing; and a number of other smaller initiatives, thank you. We are also looking at the CATSA program, which is probably the number one issue that is out there, so that initiative is being looked at, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. For the record, can you explain what CATSA is? Is that an acronym, Minister?
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it's good to hear that there are some investments that are going to be made, but, as the Minister noted, probably the most important one is the bottleneck at security. Is there any further detail? I mean, I know you are looking at it, but that is the most important to residents and tourists. Is there any update that we can be provided with regard to when improvements will be made at the security section of the airport? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this CATSA Plus is what they are looking at putting in here in early summer of this year, and we are probably one of the first smaller airports to probably get this in Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is all good, and I know that the resolving fund will continue to generate significant revenues, but it seems to me that the stuff that we are even proposing here for 2018 is already going to likely be in excess of $3 million. In instances like that, does the account just go into deficit for certain periods of time until further revenues are generated that bring it back to either even or a surplus? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. McCormick.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the revolving funds, all of these improvements are made out of the accumulated surplus, so there has to be a difference between the revenues and the expenses that allow us the breathing room to be able to afford these things. The way these revolving funds work is, if there was a deficit, the Department of Infrastructure would have to cover that from its own resources. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the explanation. Okay, that is good to know, but I am just suggesting or I am saying that right now we are showing this year that we will have close to $3 million in surplus, and so technically we can kind of put that towards capital projects. The Minister has outlined a few. A number of them seem to be coming forward in 2018. My guesstimation, just based on the ones he announced, would put us at or over this amount, so I just wonder: are we planning more than $3 million worth of capital projects this year, or are we going to stay within this accumulated surplus? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we are not planning on going over the accumulated surplus. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. Vanthuyne. Next, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, my colleague, the MLA for Yellowknife North, asked a number of the questions I was going to ask. I guess, this accumulated surplus, that is just the net surplus? That does not include any drawdown for any of the capital improvements that are going to be made at the airport? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That, no, this includes everything. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Okay, thanks, Mr. Chair. So I am just a little bit confused. So, this $2.894 million surplus, is that net, then, of the capital improvements that the Minister has already talked about? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $2.894 million is the capital money that we want to use to do the projects that I just mentioned to the previous Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I think I get it now. At what point does the department start to look at whether the airport improvement fees can be reduced? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are early days to be even talking about that. The reason we put this whole thing into place was because the YZF could not meet their capital needs going forward. We will continue to subsidize it as a government, and, now that we have rolled out this revolving fund with this model, we know we have a significant amount of work to do there. We are operating within this box, and we are doing it prudently, and I think it will be at least probably some time before we can even consider something like that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, the other alternative explanation was that the government wanted to get this money off the books as part of its fiscal reduction strategy, but I don't want to engage in that debate on the floor right now. I don't think I have any further questions. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Seeing nothing further, we will continue on to lease commitments. Comments, questions? Seeing none, move on to page 267, work performed on behalf of others. Comments, questions? Seeing none, can we please return to page 237. Are there any final comments or questions on the Department of Infrastructure? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, in its review of this department's business plans, the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment recommended that the Department of Infrastructure conduct an independent review of its procurement policy and work with the Department of Finance to survey prompt payment initiatives across Canada and develop a better model for the territory. I would like to know how this budget responds to those concerns. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Guy.
