Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the hotel tax is meant to apply in situations where people are paying a daily rate. I do not know. It is possible hotel owners would give some special monthly rate or whatever it might be that would be different, but that is a matter that would have to be reviewed in that situation. It seems to be a bit hypothetical at this point. Clearly, if they are staying in a hotel and paying a daily rate, then they would be charged and expected to pay the five percent hotel tax, if it is instituted. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Minister arrived at his 60 percent occupancy rate, I am wondering how he removed all of the people who are not paying a daily rate from this number. Specifically, did he take a look at occupancy and decide who is paying a daily rate and who is there for longer than a period of a month or so? I cannot see how he would have been able to remove this and arriving at a 60 percent number.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. I think there was a question there at the beginning. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the question seems to be based on an assumption that there are a lot of people in the hotels who are paying something other than daily rates. The figures we used are based on the statistics from the two sources I mentioned. It is based on the assumption that the majority of the people are paying the daily hotel rates. It is not based on some other assumption that half of the people there are on a monthly rate or something else. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Finance. It is an area I have questioned the Minister before in. It has to do with the government's finances. We have had a long break since our last Session. I know the Minister was busy trying to secure money for the Government of the Northwest Territories. I would like an update from Mr. Handley as to whether he has managed to find any more revenues for this government besides the hotel tax. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have not found any money through the hotel tax yet, to answer that part of the question.

I am pleased to be able to advise the Member though that the fiscal forecast for 2000-01 has improved since our Main Estimates were completed. The improvement is due to increases in provincial and local spending and the way our financing formula works. The provincial and local spending across Canada has an impact on it. However, Mr. Speaker, even with the revenue improvements, we are still projecting operating deficits in future years and still expect to hit our federal borrowing limit toward the end of this government's term of office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before we broke, there was talk of trying to have a response from the federal government for new dollars by the fall. We are well into the winter season here, at least in some parts of the territory. Can the Minister tell us whether there has been any news on the initiative to get new dollars from Ottawa aside from what is already in the formula? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we have done a lot of work in the past months in negotiating with the federal government on the non-renewable resource development strategy, as well as with CHST funding and other areas. Even though we have been asking for a large amount of money for investment in the North, we have been successful in a number of areas. I am pleased to say that the federal government has provided money to us, or agreed to provide money to us in the areas such as the CHST. They have done the same across Canada.

In the area of non-renewable resource development, again we have had a lot of discussion, we have had a lot of positive signals and I am optimistic that this is going to be a successful overture to the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister mentioned earlier, we have had a fortunate year, but as far as future years look, the forecast is not a rosy picture. So bringing the picture back into the debt wall, our debt-government revenue situation, how soon would we run out of funds and hit the wall, as they say? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, if everything stayed just the same as it is now and we saw no growth in our economy, no improvement in the provincial spending, no additional funding from the federal government other than what they have already agreed to, then I expect we would reach our borrowing limit some time in late 2002, early 2003, somewhere in that period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In trying to avoid that, we are continuing to pursue the revenue situation from the development that is happening in the Northwest Territories. Do you have a timeline? Do any of the responses you have received from the federal government have some hope for the near future? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes. We have certainly received positive and optimistic signals from the federal government. The federal election has put things on hold for a period of time here, but I remain optimistic that we will see real support sometime within the coming months.

I do not expect, as we probably never really did expect, to get a cheque for the whole amount we were asking for in one big cheque, but rather we will see it coming as the various projects unfold.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to add that our efforts have resulted in a lot of success in bringing about both the federal government and industry's attention on the amount of development happening in the North, particularly in the oil and gas area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Ms. Groenewegen.