Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Unfortunately, I may not have a fully satisfactory answer for the Member insofar as the simple reality is that, obviously, one can assume or one knows that an asset will come into play and will need to be budgeted for the year that the asset is completed or is in service. Obviously, one could assume that you would know that the hospital that was being built would come into service during this particular year. That said, there were uncertainties as to the exact timeline of the hospital and uncertainties as to the final total of the hospital, and so, again, while I can't speak to the internal budgeting that was happening in the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, I can say that the uncertainties there were real and, in that sense, it wouldn't be uncommon for there to be some delay that may not have been included in the original budgets, that they would be appropriately part of a supplementary bill.

It is unfortunate that they weren't budgeted for internally so that we aren't coming at this stage of the matter, but the best I can do in the situation that I am in, quite closely on the heels of the election, is to have caught this fact when we did and to do what we could to take the steps that we could here and today and obviously, in the very first sitting in the Assembly, in order to go forward in a way that is fiscally responsible and that helps this department get itself back on track for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Minister is new to this file, but I can assure the Minister I sat in the House in the 18^th Assembly, and we knew months in advance of the day that the new hospital was going to open on May 26, 2019. That was the scheduled date for months before that, and it must have been known to the Municipal and Community Affairs officials as well. How is it that our system failed to flag this and that the city was going to provide the assessment and that we would have to pay that to the City of Yellowknife? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I acknowledge the Member's comments, and, certainly, to the extent that there needs to be a better review, we certainly share that. It doesn't eliminate the fact that, unfair, unfortunately, we are at a situation now that the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, MACA, does not have this money available to it within its budget, short of the current supplementary bill that is for consideration at present.

The Department of Finance is going to be working with MACA to the extent possible to help ensure that mitigation measures or that better measures are in place to monitor the cash flows that are happening, to better plan, and to better estimate the final values on assets as they are becoming available so that we don't wind up back in a similar situation and so that there is a better ability to track incoming assets and relying on perhaps more than one check and balance within the bigger system of the finance of the GNWT.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Can someone tell me: when did we get a tax assessment that was from the City of Yellowknife for the Stanton Hospital? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Madam Chair, I am told that would have been approximately fall of 2019.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. "Fall of 2019," can we get a little more precision to that? Was it September?

Minister of Finance.

I just want to clarify, Madam Chair, when the city bill was received generally.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Look, I am a taxpayer here in Yellowknife. We receive an interim notice, I think, pretty early in the calendar year, and then we get a final notice usually around June, if my memory serves me correctly. I am just wondering: when did MACA get the notice of taxation, and why did it take from the time of the notice until now before the supplementary appropriation came forward? Is this something that could have or should have been dealt with in the last Assembly? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Yes, Madam Chair, thank you. I am just conferring and agreeing with Mr. Kalgutkar that, from the perspective sitting here, from Finance, is that quite certainly, yes, the matter should have been a supplementary appropriation in a fall session. Obviously, there wasn't a fall session, and, unfortunately, that puts us here at this session. It is not arriving in the timeliest of fashions, at least from the perspective of the present witnesses here and myself. It is here as quickly as I believe we were able to bring it here.

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Okay. Maybe I can just get the Minister to agree that she will find out what that date was and give me and the Members of this House the chronology of events around this misstep or failure to budget properly for the tax bill from the city. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am hesitant always to put other departments on the spot, but I would certainly expect that we likely have that information within Finance, and so, to the extent that I can provide some further chronology on when that taxation information was received, the Department of Finance will certainly endeavour to see what information we have .

Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Great, okay. I look forward to getting that information, and I just assume that you folks are all working together, so you are going to get it from your colleague. Now that we have dealt with what happened, how are we going to prevent this from happening again in the future? Thanks, Madam Chair.