222
Arctic Yearbook 2014
6. In 2012-2013, approximately 8% of these taxes and fees were corporate tax and 8% were
generated from personal income tax (GNWT 2014
http://www.fin.gov.nt.ca/taxation/revenues/index.htm)
7. Member of the Legislative Assembly for Dehcho, Michael Nadli, was the sole MLA to vote
against the Devolution agreement on June 5, 2013 (Edwards 2014).
8. For example, during the debate in the NWT Legislature on the Devolution agreement,
Weledeh Member of the Legislative Assembly Bob Bromley stated, “Our resource royalty
regime is no better than it’s ever been, and despite several objective reviews by different
parties, including some by the federal government, all concluding our royalty rates are set too
low. And despite imminent devolution, there appears to be no intent of this government to
protect the public interest as our most valued resources are extracted and shipped off.
Consider, for example, that as the federal Minister of AANDC admitted only Monday in
Ottawa, the total revenues paid to Canada throughout the life of Giant Mine were $4 million,
a royalty rate similar to what is collected today from diamond mining” (GNWT, June 5 2013:
2850).
9. This chart is adapted from Natural Resources Canada, June 2011 bulletin on how Canada’s
mineral tax regime compares to other mineral rich jurisdictions. Details of how the model of
comparision was developed can be found at http://sead.nrcan.gc.ca/prod-prod/2011eng.aspx.
10. In addition to minerals, Canadian provinces’ royalty rates for oil and gas are low by global
standards. In 2012, for instance, Alberta collected one tenth of the revenue per barrel of oil
equivalent in taxes and royalties compared to Norway (Anderson 2014).
11. This figure is based on the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of
Finance’s revenue projections, generated using average resource royalties over from 20082013 of 120 million dollars per year. This amount will vary from year to year based on
mineral revenue flows.
12. Different vehicles for investment in future generations include: Heritage Funds, physical
infrastructure, health care, human capital, governance systems or financial assets. An indepth examination of which mechanism for investment is optimal for the NWT is outside
the scope of this paper, though it should be noted that the Government of the NWT has
developed a Capital Plan for Infrastructure as one tool to invest for the future
(http://www.maca.gov.nt.ca/home/for-community-governments/community-governmenttoolkit/infrastructure-planning/).
13. The NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines confirmed that the four NWT mines pending
production are in an advanced stage – this means that they have completed pre-feasibility
studies or completed or nearly completed environmental approvals processes, and are raising
funds for mine construction (Personal Commu