Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance tried to explain the grant in lieu. The grant in lieu is the same concept as taxes. Am I correct?
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Madam Speaker, yes. Thank you. It's comparable insofar as the government does not pay property taxes the same way a private resident or private industry would. It is a way of compensating municipalities for the use of those properties. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
One hundred and forty million dollars for the City of Yellowknife for the 35-year period for grants in lieu/taxes, is this not an extra expense?
I apologize. I am not sure I know what numbers this Member is referencing, so I am at a bit of a disadvantage on this particular point. Grants in lieu, there is a very careful policy, a detailed policy, that the government uses to establish what is owed to municipalities under the grants in lieu. It is a process that uses independent assessors to identify the proper amounts. It's something that is paid to all communities. It's paid to all communities, and it's budgeted for, and so there really should not be long-term surprises in the course of grants in lieu. It's an important aspect of maintaining our partnerships and our funding to communities when we are using the resources of those communities and using up the land that would otherwise be available for them to have own-source revenues.
Is the Finance Minister comfortable in defending a flawed agreement/contract with regard to the P3 of the Stanton hospital?
The Stanton Territorial Hospital is a world-class facility. It is going to provide an opportunity for residents of the Northwest Territories, all residents of the Northwest Territories, to access services that would have otherwise not been available to us. While we acknowledge that there have been some challenges in the early, very early, stages of the roll-out of this very large and complex building, I am confident that those services are going to be here and to provide for all residents of the Northwest Territories. The P3 process for the Stanton Territorial Hospital was subject to quite rigorous auditing and quite rigorous review, and I am confident that it will, in the course of time, provide the right services and the best possible services to the residents of the Northwest Territories and that the reviews will be ongoing over the years to ensure that fact.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Madam Speaker, the Minister of Finance stated that the P3 for Stanton project came in on budget. Do you as Finance Minister truly believe this is a correct statement?
The capital planning for the project was, as I understand, $350 million, and that is indeed in the end the capital cost for construction. Now, the contract is now valued at an additional $751 million over the course of time. Every five years, there can be some adjustments made, but those adjustments are made with the partners and with all partners involved. Again, not with any surprises. I believe a very detailed and lengthy public process was offered for a technical briefing to the committee. The public was invited. That was put onto Facebook; it was made very open and accessible to the members of all of the Northwest Territories to ask hours of questions to some of the lead individuals involved in terms of designing that contract, implementing the contract, and providing services at the hospital. I believe, in fact, that those several hours' worth of review and briefings are still available through a link through the Legislative Assembly website. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
