Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive rule 89(3) and have Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, referred to the Standing Committee of Government Operations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive rule 89(3) to have Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, referred to a Standing Committee on Government Operations.

---Unanimous consent granted

Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, is now referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations. Masi. Second reading of bills. Minister of Finance.

Masi. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

Bill 33 has had its second reading. Second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act; Bill 20, Ombud Act; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Minister's Statement 103-18(3), Marine Transportation Services, with the Member for Hay River North in the chair.

What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to consider Committee Report 9-18(3), A Report on the Review of Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act; and Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We'll get right into it. Committee, we have first agreed to consider Committee Report 9-18(3), keeping in mind that we will then consider Bill 18. I understand that there are no opening comments from the chair of the committee, so I will open the floor to general comments on the report, itself, keeping in mind that the actual bill will be debated right after this.

So do I have general comments on the Report on the Review of Bill 18 from committee? Seeing none. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Committee Report 9-18(3), Report on the Review to Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act?

Thank you, committee. Let's move right into the bill which we have agreed to consider. I will go to the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm here to introduce Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Cities, Towns and Villages Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Government Operations for their review of this bill. In addition to the two suites of amendments I will present, this bill makes three housekeeping amendments that have been suggested by the Legislative Division of the Department of Justice.

Mr. Chair, tourist accommodation taxes exist in some form in all provinces in Canada, whether in the form of a tax on hotel rooms collected by the province or municipality, or a destination marketing fee charged by hotel and accommodation associations. After consideration of each of these options, and in consultation with community governments and stakeholders, the Department of Community and Municipal Affairs proposed amendments to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act to give communities the authority to choose to impose a tourist accommodation tax.

The second suite of amendments included in this bill fulfills a mandate commitment of the 18^th Legislative Assembly. The proposed amendments will enable the municipal corporation to use local improvement charges to assist residents in making retrofits or implementing renewable energy technologies to private homes.

The types of projects that could be supported through these could include the installation of energy efficient furnaces or pellet boilers or the installation of solar panels. These long-awaited amendments respond to direct requests from community governments, meet MACA's stated goal of supporting governments in carrying out municipal responsibilities, and fulfill a mandate commitment for this Assembly.

In proposing these amendments, MACA has consulted with community governments and other stakeholders and has worked closely with the Departments of Finance and Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Although not all tax-based communities intend to pursue these opportunities immediately, all agreed that in supporting the option being available to their community government should they choose to use it. Should these amendments gain the approval of the Legislative Assembly, they will come into force upon assent.

This concludes my opening remarks, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have regarding Bill 18. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations which considered the bill for opening comments. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Bill 18 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on May 29, 2018 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for a review. To commence consultation on Bill 18, the standing committee invited input on the bill from 99 hotel and bed and breakfast operators offering tourist accommodations in the six tax-based municipalities. This consultation list was kindly provided by the Department of Community and Municipal Affairs, who used to same list when consulting on the development of the bill. On behalf of the committee, I want to thank the honourable Minister for his willingness to collaborate on this work.

The committee held a public hearing on Bill 18 in Yellowknife on September 19 of this year, where we received presentations from the City of Yellowknife, the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, and the Explorer Hotel. The committee also met with the mayor of Inuvik and the representatives of the town council in Inuvik on October 2^nd. Finally, the committee received written submissions from those who presented at the Yellowknife meeting, as well as the Town of Fort Smith, the Yellowknife Days Inn and Suites, and Embleton House Bed and Breakfast.

The committee thanks everyone who provided input on Bill 18.

Individual Members, in addition to these comments, earlier today, we read our complete report into the record, and I encourage anyone who'd like to be informed of the committee's work on this bill to read that report, as it is quite substantive and clearly outlines the work we did in reviewing the bill.

That concludes my opening comments, Mr. Chair. Individual Members may have additional questions, concerns, or comments as we proceed with consideration of this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Would the Minister like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I do.

Thank you, Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my far right is my deputy minister of MACA, Ms. Eleanor Young; sitting on my right is Mr. Ian Rennie, legislative counsel, Department of Justice; and on my immediate left is Ms. Grace Lau-a, director of Community Operations from Municipal and Community Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. I will now open the floor to general comments on this bill before we get into a clause-by-clause. General comments from committee. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee wrestled with this bill, and the biggest issue, as we mentioned in the report, was the exemptions. So I'm wondering if the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has done a calculation on the prospective revenues that will be generated by this tax, specifically in the City of Yellowknife, which is the only municipality planning on bringing it in; if they have done just a rough estimate of what the total tax revenue will be? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and as stated before, we don't have that current data. If you break it down by the exceptions such as medical travel, GNWT exempt, we don't have that type of information right now. I know that, should this bill get assent, that's the type of data we will be sure to be collecting as we move forward with this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.