Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear the Minister speak about work with the community governments. I'd like to ask the Minister if there is a plan to directly fund the Aboriginal governments, or community governments, in order to address core need housing in the communities? Thank you.

As I mentioned, one of the ways we're doing this is through the community housing support initiatives. We do have some really good partnerships with some of our Indigenous governments currently, and we're going to continue to work with them, but we're open to working with community governments as well as Indigenous governments, to see how we can work together to address some of the housing needs that we see in our communities. We are committed, we are willing to meet with our Indigenous governments moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on March 22^nd I got a Christmas present, a little early or it might have been a little bit late, from the Department of Lands. This is a press secretary release saying that there was going to be a media announcement about the leases in there, so this has been a gift that's been given to me ever since then, and I keep on getting questions from my leadership and members in the communities. So this is my question to the Minister of Lands: can the Minister please advise why the media offer was offered to them after our winter session, and not during the winter session? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The new leases' amounts, of course, came into effect on April 1^st, and the media was briefed on the changes we were making the week prior to that. These changes had been discussed in the business plans during the winter session, and the media announcement went forward as part of a formal notification to the residents of the Northwest Territories of the changes. Letters were also sent out to each of the lessees on March 19, 2018. The press, the media had been aware of these changes; I see a story as long ago as February 2017, when these very changes were discussed. So really it was an update to that information. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for that answer. I understand, you know, he made a commitment and talked about us in standing committee in 2017, but why wasn't this information given to us saying this was going to happen April 1^st? We didn't hear anything about it, and I attended a number of the meetings. I may have missed the meeting, so why weren't we informed of this happening? Because, again, it's a Christmas gift. Not one I wanted, but it's a Christmas gift from the Minister. So will he please explain why it took him until after we had the session?

A letter was sent to standing committee in August of 2016, indicating that we were thinking about changing these fees that had been in effect for a very long period of time. The changes were proposed in the 2016-2017 business plans, and discussed with committee, and also discussed during the Lands mains estimates in February 2017, in accordance with our established protocols. In July 2017 we informed SCOPP that the consultation period had closed, and that we were proceeding with amending regulations, and that the pre-gazette period was about to start. The period was for 90 days, and ended on October 1^st. This was the official period when interested stakeholders could make representations to the Minister to change course. On March 17, 2018, I sent an email to all Members providing information on the fee increases. So these increased should not have come as a surprise to the public, or the Members opposite.

I thank the Minister for the long answer, and well-detailed, and I appreciate that. I guess I might have missed that email, but again, I guess I love way we say, well, we sent a letter, and that's consulting people. How did we engage the residents of the Northwest Territories who were impacted by this decision? Because NWT Lands has a huge impact on, not only in the small communities that I represent, but their cabins. So how did you engage the people of the Northwest Territories?

As I mentioned earlier, there was a consultation period that closed on October 1^st, 2017, and, of course, this matter was before the public. As I mentioned, it was in the media, it was discussed in the House, so people were certainly aware of these changes that were coming. So I think there was sufficient consultation with the public on this issue. We certainly did hear from Members opposite, and I'm sure Members opposite will recall that we did make amendments to certain of the proposed amendments, in the sense that we lowered from 10 to 5 per cent of the assessed value of certain residential properties, which was a concern of the Members opposite, particularly the Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I must apologize to the House because maybe I'm not getting my question across properly. I'm not talking about Commissioner's land. We understand that. I actually proposed a 3 per cent reduction. He came back and, you know, he was actually saying it was good at 10 per cent, and then he came back to 5 per cent. You know, I'm still baffled by this, so will the Minister look at this again and actually consult and engage people properly? Not letters, not using the public, and not using us, but getting out there and talking to the people who are impacted by this decision? Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Masi. Minister of Lands.

While I may have said that the 10 per cent rate was good, the 5 per cent was even better. We certainly did listen to the Members opposite as they raised concerns. I think there was an extensive period of consultation. As I say, this issue was certainly before the public in the sense that it had been reported in the House and raised many times, quite properly, by the Members opposite, so I think the proper consultation was done and that the changes we have made were and are reasonable. Thank you.

Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Finance. I spoke earlier today in my Member's statement sharing some concerns about the cost of living and, Mr. Speaker, some reports are actually suggesting that the NWT's best years are in fact behind us, and that is concerning. Real GDP will fall by 2.9 per cent this year and is projected to fall by a rate of 1.1 per cent for the next 20 years. The Minister of Finance certainly has to be aware of these figures. I would like to ask the Minister: what does the Department of Finance make of these projections, and what kind of plan, if there is a plan, does the Minister and the department have to reverse these trends, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our best years are behind us, not the NWT's.

---laughter

I would have to disagree with any report that suggests that the best years are behind us. We are aware of these projections and other scenarios. That is why we were working hard to manage our fiscal resources. As Members of this Assembly may recall, right at the beginning of the 18^th Assembly, we were challenged with a $34 million decrease in our territorial-formula financing, and then, just last year with our corporate taxes, there was a further decrease, so I think we have done well in trying to manage our fiscal resources to ensure that we meet some of these challenges that are coming before us. We are working on developing a number of opportunities, like commercial fishing and agriculture and the manufacturing sectors, to continue to support economic diversification in the Northwest Territories.

I am happy to hear that the Minister has a degree of optimism and a degree of confidence. That is good to hear. We want to hear that from the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, the number of seniors in the NWT is set to triple by the year 2040. This aging population will lead to rapidly increased healthcare costs. I would like to ask the Minister: if our economy is not on the upward trend and continues to show signs of being flat and we cannot seem to find ways to increase our own-sourced revenues through royalties or otherwise, how will the Minister expect to cover these increased costs as a government?

We were elected by the people of the Northwest Territories to make decisions, and sometimes hard decisions have to be made. We have to remain optimistic in all that we do, even with challenges before us, because, if they see 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly going around saying, "Oh, woe is me," and head for the border, then that does not send a very good message. Our opportunity here is to send a message that, as the Member said before, or one of the Members said, "let residents of the Northwest Territories know that we have their backs." I am trying to send that message, and we will do anything we can, with the support of this Assembly, to ensure that we are in a position to continue to invest.

We know we are being challenged with an aging population. A lot of our money comes from the territorial formula financing, and so we have to ensure we continue to work with the federal government to make sure our needs are met. At the same time, I have said before, we want to diversify our economy because we do not want to become a welfare state. We want to be able to generate our own revenue.

Thank you to the Minister once again. I appreciate that he is sending a positive message. He knows that, on occasion, I try to do that, but I do not put lipstick on the message. I happen to be a realist and, when people write me , constituents write me to tell me that they are leaving the territory because the cost are increasing, are going up and up, and we the government happen to be one of the major impactors of the costs of living in the territory, that is troubling, so I am just trying to get a better understanding of where our future is.

Mr. Speaker, the government set a goal of attracting a couple of thousand people to the NWT in the last Assembly. New reports are indicating that, with the decline in the GDP, out-migration will cause the labour force to shrink. I would like to ask the Minister: is the original plan for population growth still valid and feasible, or do we require a new strategy?

Some of the early numbers show that our population has actually increased a bit the last couple of years; very small, but it has increased. Yes, there are going to be people who leave. If there are no economic opportunities for them, people will leave and go to where the jobs are, as they should.

Our challenge here is to promote the NWT as a positive place to invest and spend your money, and the rest of it will take care of itself. I do not think we need a strategy to tell us what we already know. I think we just have to ensure that we continue to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest and live and prosper. Our ITI Minister and our Premier have been out promoting the Northwest Territories for a number of years, and will continue to do that.

I think, as far as the out-migration goes, if people are going to start making investments in the territories, if it's feasible, then they will come back to the Northwest Territories. So we continue to work on that, and we promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest. We have world-class resources here, and we have people trying to mine those resources or take advantage of the resources, and we will continue to promote that and have people move back to the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.