Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not going to take a long time to speak in opposition to this bill. I think it has pretty much all been said here today. I have spent the last two sessions trying to call into question a lot of the assumptions the government is making and discussing the disadvantages of this bill. I will quickly summarize some of these things that I picked up on along the way.
The Department of Finance thinks they are going to generate $1.2 million and they are basing this on 60 percent occupancy. When I talked to hotel owners, they tell me that is an ambitious figure even for Yellowknife, but if you go to the smaller communities, it is more like 40 percent. They really call into question the 60 percent figure.
The Minister also says six to eight percent of the hotel spending is government spending. That may be direct Government of the Northwest Territories travel, Mr. Speaker, but it does not talk about bands, municipalities or consultants. Any of us who have travelled around the North and booked into a hotel looking around know that 94 percent of the people staying there are not tourists.
The Minister also optimistically insists it will only cost us $100,000 to administer this tax and that businesses will gladly remit it. Initially, his figure was $250,000. I do have a question about whether or not businesses will gladly remit the payroll tax. We have asked in this House about audit information on the payroll tax. We have asked about interest and penalties charged. There was legislation to allow for it. Mr. Speaker, nothing has come back yet because we do not really do it.
Mr. Delorey asked where the money will be spent and so have others. We have heard regional capacity building. We have also heard destination awareness. The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce thinks, I believe, that if money is raised in Yellowknife that it will be spent in Yellowknife. I wonder how much that leaves for regional capacity building, Mr. Speaker.
This Minster may commit to tourism but this is not something that has been legislated, not in the sunset clause, the three-year sunset of this bill. It is not in legislation. The next Minister may decide to spend it on something else and there will be nothing we can do about it. Is this supposed to target tourists? I do not know.
I think it looks like it is going to target Northerners. I think it will be Northerners bearing the brunt of this tax. I think it is just one more thing to add to the expense of living in the North. So there are enforcement provisions in this bill, but there are enforcement provisions in the Payroll Tax Act as well. They are almost never triggered.
In this House the other day, we just looked at one riding where there was $700,000 in cigarette taxes that we could not collect. I understand the company is still operating and the owner is still living in Inuvik, Mr. Speaker, but somehow we are unable to get this tax revenue.
Like Mr. Braden, I do not see a plan. I am not optimistic. I would like him to rework this and retool this and come back to this House with something else. I certainly will not be supporting this.
Let me say, Mr. Speaker, I was very impressed yesterday, and I had a constituent call me about this, when Mrs. Groenewegen took herself out of the voting on a motion because she felt even though her business was in trust, she did not feel comfortable voting on the motion. My constituent said to me that they believed the bar for honesty and integrity had been raised. I would have to agree with them, Mr. Speaker. Given that her interests are in trust but she does own a hotel, I assume she will be removing herself from this vote as well and applaud her for that, Mr. Speaker. So in summary, I will not be supporting this bill. Thank you.
-- Applause