Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Earlier today, I spoke about the importance of our relationships with the federal government and strengthening those relationships.
I just want to ask the Minister of Finance: I know that, at some point here in the future, we are going to have to start talking about our territorial financing formula. I would like to ask the Minister: where are we at with that? Are we evaluating that agreement? Are we in talks with the federal government already with regard to re-evaluating our TFF? If we are, what's the update? When will it be concluded? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the discussions on the territorial financing renewal are well-advanced. It is important to remember that this is described in federal legislation, as opposed to an agreement that is negotiated.
Currently, there is a general agreement on a renewal, and the changes proposed by the federal government are minor and relatively technical in nature. We were pleased that there weren't any significant changes that would reduce our grant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for the reply. Mr. Speaker, we know that we have an infrastructure gap in the Northwest Territories in the billions. Communities have identified a $40 million annual shortfall. As new mines come on stream, some of our old ones are going to start to close. Our own source revenue becomes that much more important to us.
I am wondering if the Minister can let us know: as part of the TFF assessment, is there an opportunity for us to reduce clawback from this agreement so that, when we generate our own source revenue, we're not actually going to see it taken away from us on the other end?
It is important to remember that the formula is designed to fill the gap between expenditure need and our own source revenue. The federal government view is that we are not penalized when the grant goes down if our revenue increases, and as the gap changes between need and own-source revenue, the grant should change. As the Member knows, the formula is very complex, and there are components built in to ensure that we benefit as our tax base expands.
Well then, that means we have to dust off the old plan to make sure that we're looking to grow our population, because that is where it's going to make a difference for us when it comes to the TFF, or the Territorial Financing Formula.
Mr. Speaker, the other question that has been highly debated as it relates to our relationship with the federal government is our agreement to sign on to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. There were questions earlier today from my colleagues with regard to carbon pricing. Yesterday, we talked in this House about Taltson, and we have a $200,000 commitment that we're going to spend toward pre-planning; $150,000 of that is coming from the federal government.
I would like to ask the Minister: does that mean the federal government is buying in to Taltson, that they believe in Taltson as being a good project that is somehow going to support the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change?
Early indications are, for the federal government, this is one of the projects that meets their vision. When we put a good business case forward, I think the federal government will be receptive to helping us to see this project come to fruition.
It is something that fits into their mandate, and it's something that early indications are they have kind of looked at this project favourably. Whether that translates into significant investment remains to be seen, but we have to ensure that we have a fairly solid business case going forward.
