Masi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Regular Members have come to the government and challenged it with trying to find other revenue options, and this is one of them. We are working and currently targeting the fall of 2016 of the Legislative Assembly for the introduction of legislation that would authorize the collection of land transfer tax. There will be opportunities coming forward for our committee to have some input, and obviously we would have to go to them before we get to that stage. There will be opportunities there for them to have input. We will provide them with all the details then. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I feared, this is a revenue grab by government, and I'm not one of those Members who are looking for new ways to increase this. I think the federal government has its hands strong on how we can actually raise taxes. My question is this new tax proposal: how much of it are we going to retain and how much of it is going to be clawed back through our funding agreements with Ottawa?

I disagree with the Member. This is not a tax grab or a cash grab. This is something that we're putting into place. My understanding is a potential revenue from this would be about $3 million. My understanding is that we would retain all of it.

Thank you for that clarification. My question is: it's $3.1 million. Does the Minister know where that's coming from? He has detailed the clear revenue figure. There must be some sense of where it's coming from. My fear is that certain parts of the territory are going to pay higher into this tax than other parts of the territory, especially with his somewhat cryptic statements in the budget address around lessening the impact. Who is going to be paying for this?

As far as which areas in the Northwest Territories are actually going to be affected the most, I mean, I think the initial plan was some of the lower-priced properties won't have to pay as much, obviously. If you're living in a jurisdiction that has a fairly good economy and the prices are quite high, then your taxes are going to be reflective of that. Again, we're in the process of putting the information together, and I'd be more than happy to, once we have that put together, sit down with the appropriate committee and have that discussion and seek input from them.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

I'll answer plainly: the tax may affect those communities that have higher real estate costs than other communities across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.