Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently there was a news release from the City of Yellowknife recommending certain changes to the City, Towns and Villages Act to allow them the flexibility to engage in certain initiatives like local improvement charges, hotel taxes, etc. These recommendations have been long supported by the NWT Association of Communities. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs today if the department plans to take action on that request from our municipal partners? Thank you.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is aware of the request from the City of Yellowknife. We are looking at them. We are researching into them. We do have to do a thorough consultation process before we change any legislation or acts, and so we haven't started that process on these as of the moment.
I believe the legislation was last updated in 1988, and many of these recommendations have been long-standing for as long as five or six years. When does the Minister plan to direct the department to begin this work? Can our municipal partners have some timelines to consider, as they've been asking for a very, very long time?
As stated already, the department is already at the point of researching these requests, so we've already given direction to look into them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Is the Minister aware of the long-standing resolutions being passed by the NWTAC, and more recently by the City of Yellowknife amongst other councils? Is the department paying attention to that? Is the Minister paying attention to that, and how does she respond to these long-standing issues? Has the department looked into this before, Mr. Speaker? Has the department done research before this point, or is this research just starting now?
Members may be aware that I have just taken over the position of Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I can't state what has happened historically on these subjects, but I can state that, at this point, we are researching it to see about the viability and, like I said, there will have to be public consultation with all of the communities that this may impact before we make a decision on it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I try to be economical in my questions. Finally, does the Minister believe that this work will be completed by the end of this term, or will we have to wait until another Assembly, or potentially the Assembly after that, to see these changes come forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Right at this point, it's hard to determine whether it will be done during this current Legislative Assembly. However, like I have stated, we are researching it at this point. We do have other major legislations that we are putting through with this Assembly related to health or public safety, so those are our priorities at this time. Once that work is all finished, the next step will be to look at these legislative amendments that they're requesting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
