Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act is a piece of legislation of this government that enables municipalities to offer tax relief to property owners in their taxation area who are either senior citizens or have a disability.
There is something inherently unfair about this. If one of the recipients is in a relationship, is a common-law or partner of the person who is a senior or person with disabilities, if by sharing title to that property, they then become disqualified from receiving this tax relief. This is a discussion that has been going on for some time and I understand there has been some behind the scenes progress on it. For the benefit of those people who are potential recipients of this tax relief, I was wondering if the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs could update us on where we are with modifications or revisions to this act.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can inform the Member that there has been work going on behind the scenes. We have been reviewing the act with the intent of making revisions to it. I will commit to the Member that I will follow up with officials and see where we’re at with it and how soon we can bring an LP forward for consideration.
The unfair part of this act is the fact that if the property is shared or partly owned by someone who is not qualifying under the tax relief program, that the entire property becomes disqualified. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’s familiar enough with some of the work that’s being done with this legislation to tell us if the government has an idea about how they might be able to do this; like, for example, on a prorated basis. The property’s owned by two people, one is disabled, one is not. Would the tax relief apply to 50 percent of the property taxes? Would that be something that’s being considered?
I’m not quite familiar enough with the work that’s being done, but I will follow up on it. These are actually issues we’ve been hearing about from folks across the NWT. I will commit to the Member that I will follow up on it. This is part of the work that’s being undertaken right now. As I get more information, I will share that with the Member.
I’d like to ask the Minister if any of the consultation and work that’s being done on this act is to the stage that it could possibly be tabled this session or the May session. When does he think the legislative proposal for the amendments might be forthcoming?
I do know that in the coming months we’re going to finalize our analysis to see about bringing an LP forward. I will follow up and see if we have enough in there with enough meat on it to bring an LP forward as soon as the May session.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If this has not already happened, and I would assume that stakeholders such as the NWT Council for Persons with Disabilities, the NWT Seniors’ Society, the NWT Association for Communities, I would assume these are stakeholders that would have been consulted when looking at this act. I would ask the Minister if he would also be able to provide for this House a list of people who would have participated in consideration of the revisions to this act.
We have consulted with interested stakeholders and that includes the tax-based community governments, the relevant GNWT departments, the NWT Seniors’ Society, and the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, and the Local Government Administrators of the NWT. They have been consulted and have had some input into the process that’s gone on so far.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
