Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the assessment on the general taxation area, these are communities that are non-taxed. According to the Property Assessment Taxation Act, it requires that all property values from both land and improvements be updated every ten years.
The last time properties were assessed was in 1987. I am told that, when looking into this matter myself, the values in 1987 did not reflect the full development cost at that time. The assessment was low at that time. This recent assessment was completed in 1998. Updates for land were completed in October of 1999. Therefore, the ten-year period for the communities and areas in many communities, the increase was substantial, as the honourable Member said, from 100 percent to 400 percent over the ten year period. This included the property value and the land development cost. This is what I have been told by the department as to how they come up with the property assessments. Thank you.