Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs well knows the issue of the outstanding amendments to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, earlier in the day in my Member's statement quoted one of her officials from a business plan review for 2016-2017. I would like to ask the Minister today: what progress has been done since that review on updating the Cities, Towns and Villages Act? Thank you.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have come to learn that change in legislation does take a little bit more time than I would like to think it does, so it takes a lot of stakeholder engagement, a lot of writing, et cetera. What progress have we made? We have actually met with the six tax-based municipalities that would be affected by the CTV Act to look at things like the energy retrofits. We've also talked about the hotel tax levy with them. On the note of the hotel tax levy, we've had to meet with other stakeholders, so we have met with the Northwest Territories and the Regional Chamber of Commerce. We've met with the Hotel Association. From those stakeholder engagements, then, we move forward, and so we're in the process right now of drafting our proposal, which will be submitted in March coming up here next month, and from there we're looking at implementing our first bill to be presented in the May/June sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the stakeholder engagement that's gone into this. The Association of NWT Communities has recommended these changes and other changes in the legislation for, I think, a decade now, so it's nice to see the department moving forward. I'm wondering if there's any possible way that the Minister can move up the timeline? The reason I ask, Mr. Speaker, is the City of Yellowknife is depending on some of these changes so they can afford their tourism operation. I just don't want to be put in the situation where we're not able to give the City of Yellowknife this legislative change and they are forced to raise taxes in order to support tourism operation, which is, of course, something that this government takes very seriously. Is there any way we can move the legislative proposal up to this sitting so the standing committee can get a look at it before waiting for May/June?
As stated at the beginning, I didn't realize that changing legislation takes as long as it does take. I often wish I could get them all off of my desk, but I realize it takes time. We are on a timeline that was submitted a year ago. We are on the timeline that was submitted just before the sitting. The proposal will be put in, in March. I can't move it any faster than the process takes, so the bill will be introduced to standing committee in May/June, and hopefully standing committee won't take as long and we will be able to get that off and rolling.
I'll just remind the Minister that the changes that the department has narrowed down and has been consulting on have been recommended by Regular Members every year. So I can speak for the standing committee now that, if the legislative proposal contains the exact same recommendations that we've been making, we're pretty good to go with it. So, again, will the Minister expedite this matter? My concern is: we need to meet the timelines. I represent the riding here in Yellowknife. I'm looking out for my constituents, and I want to make sure that they're not burdened by the inability of this legislative proposal to move forward in a timely fashion, and it's going to impact the City of Yellowknife's budget. They're paying for
I think the Minister heard your question, so I'll allow the Minister for Community Affairs to respond.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am trying to move it as quickly as possible. I haven't been here for 10 years. So I don't know what happened 10 years ago, but I do know that we've been working at it hard. I don't trust that 10 years ago the stories that were put out there are the same as today. For example, when we talked to the Tourism Association, we learned that tour packages have already been sold for this year. That impacts the bill and the timing of this. So there were considerations. We had to go out for stakeholder feedback, and so I am really appreciative of the department for actually doing that work. Again, we will move the process as soon as possible. It will be introduced in the May/June sitting, and as soon as we get the process approved, we will be moving it forward, but we can't move any faster than the process takes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm passionate about this issue. It's long overdue. In addition to these changes that are being proposed, these minor changes to the CTV, has this allowed the department to look at other outstanding changes and consult on other issues with the CTV Act? It's a big piece of legislation. Is the Minister contemplating any other changes to the CTV Act? Thank you.
The CTV Act that we're looking at changing will be for the hotel tax levy and for the energy retrofits that the Municipality of Yellowknife wanted to push forward. So I do appreciate the words of the honourable MLA that's stating that he doesn't project it would be taking long with standing committee. I'm not sure if he represents the voice of all the standing committee in the House here today, but if I could get that in writing that they have no issues, that they don't need to review it, that it can go as stated, then I will take that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
