Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I agreed to do detail on 9-10 and I have some questions here. With respect to the airport landing and other fees and airport lease and rental of revenues under revenue summary, just let me deal with airport landing first. We see that in 2005-06, the actual revenue was $1.754 million. Last year the revenue was $2.4 million. We are expecting to see $2.5 million next year. On the lease and rental revenue from the airport we have seen not as big as that landing fee, but still we're projecting some increases there. I'd like to ask the Minister what the reason is for that. I know that it's a big issue for local airline companies, the cost of doing business, and part of that is the landing fee. I guess my question would be what is the reason for the increase? Is it volume, or are we continuing to increase the fees? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The landing and other fees that were increased over the past, well, actually, couple of years, was due to the fact that we had to increase the fees to recover our costs for expansion of the Yellowknife Airport. We received an extra $600,000 in revenues using that scheme of recovery for the funds expended. As well, for this year's main estimates, because there is more activity at the airport, we expect the same scale of revenue using our existing fees.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I see that last year we saw about $690,000, yes, about a $700,000 increase. No, I can't do math fast. Yes, about $750,000. But next year we're projecting about a $150,000 increase. I'm happy to see that the increase has tapered off a bit. I do understand that we need to recover some of the costs, but we do need to balance that with airlines' ability and capacity to stay competitive and to control their costs of doing business. They are under a lot of other pressures, especially for our two northern carriers because of the big brother, the third airline that decided to come to Yellowknife. Mr. Chairman, could I ask whether we could take the somewhat smaller increase to be the one that would be the trend for awhile, or would it change continuously and what is the amortization period, if there is any, to recover the cost? Is it over a period of 5 or 10 years to recover, or is it going to be on a year-by-year basis cost-recovery kind of system? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. We had indicated that cost recoveries would happen over 10 years. As well as the small increase the Member is talking about, the 2007-08 mains over the revised estimates of roughly $200,000, we're expecting it due to increased traffic volumes that we're seeing at the Yellowknife Airport. That's where the extra revenue...Our fees, even though we did jump them up to recover costs of the expansion, it's still comparable to other jurisdictions across Canada. In fact, it is below average. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I didn't catch that 10-year part the first time around. I'd like to ask some questions on the road licensing and safety programs. Under there, we're

seeing a projected decrease next year. That's a different trend from the airports and I'm just wondering why we're projecting that the fees will decrease. Maybe because we're going on a longer licensing period or something? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The numbers that we're using, yes, we adjust them as the actuals come in for the end of the year. So these are estimates for 2007-08.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Mr. Chairman, I do appreciate that a main estimate is an estimate and a revenue estimate is a forecast so you can't be quite on the nose with these numbers, but I would think these revenues mean something in the bigger revenue picture for the government. One way to look at future forecast is to look at the immediate past. I'm looking at, for example, road licensing and safety, registrations, last year's actual was $158,000. This past year's actual is $218,000, but next year we are forecasting to go down a lot further. When there was an increase for the last two years, we're projecting to go down next year. Same thing for the licensing and safety - licences. On all the permits and licences we are forecasting a decrease and the fees we're only forecasting a very little increase. On the registration, we saw a decrease in the last two years and yet we're forecasting an increase. Do you know what I mean? I'm trying to explain my question as much as possible with the information in front of me. I'd like to see what the justification and rationale might be that we may not be aware of as we sit here. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. We'll just take a closer look at the numbers that we're proposing here. The 2007-08 Main Estimates, we're actually basing these on the average and actually the actuals of 2005-06 actuals. So if you look at those two numbers, they're actually closer together. The 2006-07 mains and 2006-07 revised estimates, that's exactly what they are, they're still estimates and the numbers are still coming in for those. This year's main estimates, some of the considerations, particularly with the Member's questions on licences, is that based over last year we're actually, because of the uptake on the new licensing system, we're actually looking at a decrease only because of some of the lengths of the licences that were offered. As well, it will be the same for the permits. In terms of the registrations, the amount of traffic and large trucks that continue to use our systems and continue to do business in the North are up and that's why we continue to estimate around $3 million for revenues for those registrations.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. We're on page 9-10, revenue summary. Any further questions? None.

Thank you, committee. Page 9-13, activity summary, corporate services, operations expenditures summary, $8.076 million.

Thank you. Page 9-17, activity summary, airports, operations expenditures summary, $26.843 million. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. On the airports issue and the extension of the airstrip in Yellowknife, which I believe the department and the city have been in discussions with, it's my understanding that there was some kind of agreement or understanding about the project. Could I just ask the Minister, what do we know about how much it would cost to extend that airport to make it suitable for international landings?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.