This is page numbers 4571 - 4620 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was yellowknife.

Topics

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Chair, I am really hoping third time lucky with this question. Yes, they did consultation. Who among those consulted said, "You should exempt the GNWT," in any form or fashion? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. None of the stakeholders said it. It came from us, the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I think the term for that is "self-interest."

The next thing I want to ask about is why the Government of Canada wasn't exempted. In Alberta, the Government of Canada is exempted from hotel levies. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Ms. Green. I have stopped the clock while the Minister and his team gather the information. We might have an answer. Ms. Young.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

Young

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is unfortunately not in my notes, but my recollection on this one is that we did look at this issue with the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance with regards to the ability to tax a higher level of government and whether it needed to be included in the bill.

If I recall correctly, and I would need to go back and just confirm this, but I believe the understanding we were left with was that we did not need to specifically exclude Government of Canada in the bill, that they could opt out because they are a higher level of government, but I would want to go back and confirm that and send that back.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you for that. Ms. Green.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4612

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer to that. It is interesting that this government took that approach, and the Alberta government decided that Canada needed to be specifically excluded from paying the tax. From the small amount of information that we have received, what the GNWT wants to do is save $250,000 a year by not paying the hotel tax in Yellowknife. Is that a correct summary? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Even with the preliminary numbers that we do have, the initial work that was done, we don't have a concrete set of numbers right now. However, that is funding that can go into other areas as we do program services within the government.

In short, we just wanted to look at ways that, as the GNWT, there would be some savings.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't find saving $250,000 on a $1.8 billion budget a very compelling reason to exempt the GNWT from paying this hotel tax, whereas it could provide a valuable economic driver for the City of Yellowknife to bring more tourists here, and as you, yourself, have pointed out, when Yellowknife is thriving, it tends to float more boats than just the City of Yellowknife. My next question is about the levy at the airport. I don't recall that there was any discussion about having exemptions there. So why are there no exemptions at the airport, but there is this list of exemptions for the hotel tax? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair Daniel McNeely

Thank you, Ms. Green. That's beyond the scope of this review. Ms. Green.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Okay. Those are all my questions on this section. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair Daniel McNeely

Thank you, Ms. Green. Next, I have Mr. Thompson.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess my first question is: when we talk about a charter challenge, has the department obtained a legal opinion in writing that this going to happen? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair Daniel McNeely

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I mentioned to committee, we did get a legal opinion, and with that legal opinion it says that it does create the possibility for a challenge. As we've heard from Members, the interpretation that other Members have, it differs from person to person or even possibly lawyer to lawyer. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair Daniel McNeely

Thank you. Perhaps for some more detail we could go to our law clerk. Madam Clerk.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

Law Clerk Ms. Holland

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Simply to provide some perspective on the questions of a constitutional challenge, obviously, any legislation could be challenged by any individual in court, the subject of a constitutional challenge. In my review, I have seen there's a lot of case law dealing with whether or not place of residence is a ground for making out discrimination under section 15 of the Charter. Section 15 is what guarantees the equal benefit and protection of the law.

What I have seen the courts consistently find is that place of residence in and of itself is not an analogous ground, so it's not a protected ground from discrimination under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The exception is where it's tied to something that is immutable about oneself. So, for example, residence on an Aboriginal reserve is different from residence in Alberta or British Columbia or the Northwest Territories.

I have not seen any case law that suggests there's any significant risk of a charter challenge in drawing a distinction in legislation between residents of the Northwest Territories and residents of another jurisdiction. What's important there is that the case law makes it clear that where this distinction that's drawn in any legislation takes into account the actual situation of the people being designated, so there's a basis for it that is based on the actual circumstances of those caught by it, that tends to argue against a finding of discriminatory effect, and thus, against a Charter violation. That's what I found in my review of the case law.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4613

The Chair

The Chair Daniel McNeely

Thank you very much for that information. Mr. Thompson.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4614

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank our law clerk for that information. I greatly appreciate that. One of my big concerns, though, is that this is going to be a tax on residents of the Northwest Territories. It's another tax on the residents of the Northwest Territories. It's no different than the airport improvement fee tax; people have to pay that. The smaller communities, it doesn't sound like a lot of money, but you look at it, you stay here for five days, that's $15; you fly in here, that could be X amount of dollars. So all of a sudden, you're looking at an additional $50, $60, $80, added to their cost of living. That is a challenge.

The bigger challenge, though, I guess, is sports teams. I've heard this from the Minister and from people saying that you can get a good deal at the hotels. Well, depending on the time of year, hotels could be booked up, and hotels are going to be doing what they need to do, and sometimes during other events, they don't have the big tourism push, so they're able to give the deal, but sometimes they can't. That's a huge impact on the smaller communities. I know so much that every dollar we fundraise, it's fundraised to go to an event per year; sometimes if we're lucky we can do two. So has the Minister looked at that as part of the exemption? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4614

The Chair

The Chair Daniel McNeely

Thank you. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 4614

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you've heard here already, when we did do the consulting of the stakeholders, the department did attempt to strike a balance with the various exemptions scenarios that were offered. This is what we came up with, what's in the bill here. There are a couple provisions in here that also allow for further exemptions to be prescribed under regulation, but also under the bylaw exemption from the tax, the council is given discretion to provide for exemption from the tax in addition to those required under subsection 5. When we go to clause-by-clause review, you will see it in there. So there are some areas in there that allow for it, and it would be up to the municipality. Thank you.