Mr. Speaker, mahsi cho. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to address the village of Fort Simpson and how it plans to revert back to hamlet status as a result of MACA's community formula funding projections. Mr. Speaker, Fort Simpson was considered a hamlet until it reverted to village status in 1973. Fort Simpson is the only village of this status in the Northwest Territories and the main source of revenue is taxation. Fort Simpson thought it was making the right decision to revert to a village, only to find out the growth in population, and taxable infrastructure has been minimal over the past 30 years. The village has worked very hard to operate on the revenue generated from taxation and from the GNWT community funding and, as a result, expenses were decreased and user fees increased.
While it is appreciated that there were extraordinary circumstances that the GNWT did help out with, now is the time for repayment now, when the impact of the expected budget reductions will cause the village of Fort Simpson to either cancel some well-needed renovations or double the taxes of the people of Fort Simpson in order to maintain their present revenue. The village definitely does not want to raise the taxes and burden the people of Fort Simpson any further. The mayor and council are convinced, as a result of the budget reductions, that there is no other alternative but to revert back to hamlet. They see that the benefits far outweigh those of being a village. They feel that they would rather do it now rather than later than to use the expected study that the GNWT is very willing pay for. Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of MACA questions relating to this matter at the appropriate time. Mahsi cho.
---Applause