Thank you, Mr. Nitah. I caution Members that visitors should be in the gallery. However, we will assume they are watching on television today and we wish them a speedy recovery. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank our pages. I would like to do it now because as the day goes on, the activity of the House may preclude that. We have had with us for the past week the pages serving from the cadets. They come from different parts of the Northwest Territories. I would like to introduce them and their sponsors. Patrick Joss from Holman, a guest of Mr. Steen; Vanessa Grenier from Fort Smith, a constituent of Mr. Miltenberger; Shana Ermatinger from Inuvik, guest of Mr. Allen and Mr. Roland; Jackson Mantla from Rae-Edzo, a guest of Mr. Lafferty; Carl Galle from Fort Simpson, a guest of Mr. Antoine; Karla Lennie from Norman Wells, a guest of Mr. Kakfwi; Sabrina Krivan from Yellowknife, and Vital Manuel.

I would like to say on behalf of all the Members, we appreciate all of your efforts in the past five days. Thank you very much, pages.

-- Applause

I am told this is excellent training as you proceed to become MLAs yourselves later on.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during committee of the whole yesterday, the Honourable Joe Handley made a comment. I pull it out of the unedited Hansard. It refers to the debt wall, which is something I have questioned him about previously.

A question was asked of him during the opening comments to the budget about the debt wall. Mr. Handley's response was, and it refers to new dollars:

"...already seeing a turn-around. A little bit of the population growth and so on. But if we see no increase at all, then we would hit our maximum within two years. Within two years, we would be there, and quite possibly within 18 months. That is an estimate because of course, things will change."

What I would like to know from the Minister is, what has changed from the previous Session, when I asked questions and the Minister responded to me that we were looking at the debt wall within less than a year if things did not change. What has changed since the previous Session to now? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a number of things have changed. First of all, we have, during the past several months as the Member knows, received more revenue in terms of corporate taxes than we had anticipated. That has certainly made a difference to our bottom line. Secondly, the population in the Northwest Territories is showing some increase. Third, there are good signs of further development on the Diavik mine, possibly the Winspear mine, there is increased oil and gas activity going on and exploration activity up and down the valley.

The economic picture looks more positive than I think was projected by the previous government and even by ourselves earlier in this term. Increased revenue has certainly been a big part of it.

I am optimistic that our departments will be able to find the $5 million we had identified in the budget through efficiencies and looking at doing things differently within the department. Both on the expenditure and revenue side, there are more signs saying things are improving than what we had anticipated several months ago. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister stating we will see some revenues flowing from the Diavik and oil and gas developments within the next 18 months? Is that the case? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member well knows, we do not collect much of the revenue directly ourselves. We do indirectly through the increased employment of northern residents. We anticipate seeing improvement. We anticipate having more Northerners taking jobs in construction at Diavik. We see BHP doing a good job of meeting their targets. Winspear is continually looking for people. There are some good signs there and it is the same thing with the oil and gas development.

The biggest increase and benefit to us will continue to be employment until we have devolution. That is where I see most of it coming from. The other piece is as industry comes North, they use more fuel, purchase more from companies who produce products and all of that indirectly generates some revenue to government. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are not getting any figures here and I know we will not receive a direct benefit from revenues, but the Minister has said that "we are seeing more revenue from corporate tax, our population is increasing". So what is the dollar value of those increases to this government? The summary of accumulated cash position we have due from the Government of Nunavut in this fiscal year is about $35 million. Can you explain that further? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I look at the main estimates and the revised main estimates for the year 1999-2000, we at that time projected $90 million in total tax revenues alone. In the year 2000-2001, we are estimating $133 million in revenues in taxation. There is a bit of a windfall that year because of the way one of the major companies in the Northwest Territories field their corporate tax.

We anticipate in 2001, $129 million. The following year another extra million in revenue. There is a small but continuing increase in here. I think these are projections based on actual projects. As I said, I expect there is going to be a lot more development happening in oil and gas and mining and construction and so on over the next little while.

I am optimistic we are going to see even more improvement than is shown by our finance people in doing their accounting of what we have and know right now. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform us what is the proposed number, or guesstimate, of your department when it comes to some of the good signs you had mentioned earlier, oil and gas and diamond development, and the impact that will have on us with the budget and the revenues. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are expecting, and again I cannot break this out by sector, as I do not have that information in front of me, $55 million in personal income tax. We expect that to maintain itself and to increase. Not by us increasing the rates, but by the number of people who are working.

Corporate income tax in 2000-2001 gives us almost $40 million. We realize, as I mentioned earlier, there is a bit of a windfall this year. Next year it will go down to about $34 million or so.

Payroll tax, under the current regime, gives us $8.8 million, and that will increase as employment increases. Fuel taxes are about $10 million, closer to $11 million, going up to about $13 million. Tobacco tax will maintain itself at about $9.8 million. Property tax will maintain itself at about $8 million, then rising in a couple of years to roughly $9 million. Insurance taxes will maintain itself at about $1.5 million. All of that will either maintain itself, we project, or increase. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Antoine. My constituents in the Deh Cho have been shocked by the results of the department's most recent assessment of the property values. For example, in the community of Enterprise, I am told that some of the properties have gone from around $4,000 in assessment to over $20,000. I would like to ask the Minister how his department could justify such huge increases in property assessment values. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. It may be out of the availability of the Minister, however, I will allow the Minister to respond if he wishes. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Antoine.