SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
MLAs voted 10 to 7 in favour of a bill that will add between $19 and $29 to the price of a plane ticket at the Yellowknife airport, starting this July.

MLAs voted in favour of a bill that will raise the cost of ticket prices at the Yellowknife Airport by creating a revolving fund to support the airport, which currently relies on subsidies from the territorial government. - NNSL file photo

Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act, creates a revolving fund of up to $36 million to support the airport by imposing an Airport Improvement Fee on flights through Yellowknife to the tune of $20 for travellers heading south and $10 for trips within the territory, plus an additional aeronautical fee of between $7 and $9 dollars.

The Department of Transportation estimates these changes will generate around $10 million in new revenue a year and eliminate the $4 million a year taxpayers currently pay to subsidize the airport.

Schumann told MLAs all revenues generated at the airport would stay at the airport, adding that the $4 million this bill would free up will be used for other priorities, like health care, education and housing.

"This is going to free up the money for other initiatives that are very important to every Member that is sitting around this Assembly. That's not peanuts," said Schumann.

Earlier this year, representatives from NWT Tourism and the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines both stated they would not support the bill, raising concerns the additional fee would hurt industry and tourism by increasing the cost of doing business in the territory.

The Department of Transportation estimates that, based on the number of people per household in Yellowknife and the average number of flights per year, the new fee will raise cost of living by 0.08 per cent per household in the city. Similar calculations had not been done looking at specific increased costs for businesses. In a February news release, the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines estimated the fees would cost a mine as much as $500,000 a year.

But Nunakput MLA Herbert Nakimayak doesn't think the fee will change people's travel plans.

"If we are going to pay maybe $5 or $10 for a ticket, I don't think it would change anybody's mind to come to travel to the Northwest Territories," he said.

Schumann argued the bill would mean improvements to the terminal building, which could attract travellers and businesses, including making security more efficient, expansions to both the exterior and interior of the terminal and other upgrades.

"I think a year or two from now, you are going to see a totally different airport, and it is going to be a good change for the people of Yellowknife and the Government of the Northwest Territories," said Schumann.

But Kam Lake MLA Kieran Testart wasn't buying what he was selling.

"The proposed benefits and enhancements were less important than pulling an expensive piece of public infrastructure off the government's books and asking consumers to directly subsidize it through increased fees and taxes," said Testart, describing the fees as a "cash grab."

"At a time when our economy is still sluggish and needs assistance from this government in the form of capital, in the form of opportunities, this is not an opportunity that is going to help our economy at this time."

The plan will include an economic advisory committee, accountable to the Department of Transportation, including representatives from the business community who have an interest in the airport. Not everyone is on board with that committee though.

Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly questioned the committee's ability to provide "meaningful oversight" and called it an "old-boys' club."

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