Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that information from the Minister. I guess my biggest challenge is that we're exempting the GNWT. We don't exempt them on the airport improvement fee. We don't do that, but now the taxpayers, the people of the Northwest Territories, now they have to pay this, and we're sitting here talking about making cost of living not have an impact on people, have the cost of living be better, and now we're sitting here doing that. So to me, what's the difference between the residents of the Northwest Territories and government of NWT? What is the difference? Why can the government get this exemption and the residents cannot? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

Thank you. I appreciate the comparison. I know the airport improvement tax is GNWT revenue. In terms of this tax, it would be revenue to the municipalities, and the government decided early on that it would not choose in this specific bill to tax itself when it's not collecting revenue to offset those costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I'm just disappointed. It's either or all. If you're going to exempt the GNWT, then we could be exempting all residents of the Northwest Territories. It's a tourism tax; that's what I am reading. It says tourism accommodation tax; that's what it is. So you mean that, for our sporting teams, they're now considered tourists coming into the capital to participate? Can the Minister please elaborate on that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned, we did do the consulting and met with all our stakeholders, and we did try to strike a balance with the various exemption scenarios. This what we came up with. This is a tourism tax that would be for Yellowknife municipalities, for the City of Yellowknife and not for the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Green talked about consulting and you went out and talked to the groups and came up with this recommendation, but it was the GNWT that made that recommendation; it wasn't the group of people you were talking to. So why did the GNWT make that recommendation? They didn't hear it from any of the people out there. They heard it from the Government of the Northwest Territories. So can you please explain why the Government of the Northwest Territories was able be part of this without telling people they were going to be consulted? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I did mention just early on in the questioning here from the Member that GNWT decided early on that it will not choose to tax itself when it's not collecting revenue to offset those costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Less than a minute. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I apologize. I took the whole 10 minutes. I was hoping not to.

The GNWT decided that they are not going to tax themselves, but we are going to tax the residents of the Northwest Territories with this fee. Is that what you are telling me? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The bill allows for a municipality to choose to implement this tax. GNWT is not putting the tax on people. It is up to the municipality. As you have heard before, we have five other tax-based communities that decided not to do this, and we have one municipality that has decided to put this through, should this bill get assent. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson, your time has expired. I have no one further on my list, so we will move to a clause-by-clause review of the bill.

Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill. I will call out the clauses. After I call out the clause, if committee agrees, please respond accordingly. Are we ready?

Agreed.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Clause 1.

Thank you. Clause 2. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. A motion to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, that clause 2 of Bill 18 be amended by deleting proposal subclause 70.1(5) and substitute the following: (5) tourism accommodations tax must not be imposed under this section if the subject of the tax is a resident of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. A motion has been made. It is being distributed. It has been distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion, Mr. Thompson.

Mr. Chair, clause 2 of Bill 18 adds a new section to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act that allows tax-based municipalities to levy a tax on tourism accommodations. Under clause 2, the new section 70.1(5) provides a list of exemptions, that is, a list of types of accommodations or classes for the persons and organizations who may be exempt from paying the tax. These include accommodations rented for more than 30 days, accommodations costing less than $20 per night, the Government of the Northwest Territories and its public boards and agencies, a person and his or her family being accommodated on medical travel, a person paying out of pocket for a stay at the hospital or health care facilities, or any other exemptions provided that are in the regulations.

During review, the standing committee heard from the majority of the public that the list of exclusions is too long. The City of Yellowknife, who is the primary proponent of the bill, said the City would prefer that Bill 18 not contain such an exhaustive list of exclusions. The Explorer Hotel expressed concern about the burden that the exclusions would place on front-line staff to determine eligibility for exclusions. This is important because the bill contemplates the designation of a hotel operator as a tax agent for the municipality. The Explorer Hotel said it will be difficult for a front desk worker or reservation agent to challenge a government official as to the purpose of their trip.

Mr. Chair, during the clause-by-clause review of the bill, committee moved a motion to amend this provision by deleting the list of exclusions and replacing it with a single exclusion for all NWT residents. Unfortunately, the Minister did not concur, and the motion was defeated. I bring forward this motion again, and I support it for two reasons.

First, it simplifies administration of the tax for hotel operators. Anyone who pays for accommodations and can show proof of NWT residence using any government-issued ID card would be exempt.

Secondly, this is meant to be a tax on tourists travelling to the Northwest Territories. The NWT is already an expensive place to live and work, and I do not feel that it is fair to tax NWT residents in this way to support a municipal tourism objective. I am worried about the impact of adding this additional cost on local governments travelling to Yellowknife for meetings and training. These local governments are already underfunded annually by the GNWT to the tune of more than $30 million per year. I am also especially worried about the potential negative impact of this levy on amateur sport teams, who scrimp and fundraise for every dollar that they can get in order to travel to sporting events.

For these reasons, I support this motion today and ask for the support of my colleagues in the south. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. To the motion. Mr. Testart.