Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It would have to be calculated on the type of games, where the games are going to be held, and who is all going to be involved, so I can't give a dollar figure at this moment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's always been an ongoing issue, I think, in every community, and that's something that we need to work with our local governments on addressing. Obviously, we want to play a strong role in that. Any administration or municipal government that does feel that they need support and work on our behalf, I encourage them to come and speak with us to address those needs in terms of derelict properties and areas in their communities. I know, since I've been in the position, we have made some adjustments for some small communities to address these needs. Like I said, I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As Members are aware, I did give a Minister's statement earlier today about the work that we are doing with the municipalities, trying to address that gap. I have said it openly to all Members here this afternoon, that I really don't think we're going to be able to address that gap during this government. I'm not tying the hands of any future governments, and we will have a strategy. As one of the Members asked earlier today, we will have that strategy report ready for tabling in the May-June sitting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it will include that. It will also include us having those open dialogues and discussions with our municipalities. I thank the Member for keeping us accountable in terms of the report that came from 2014. As you have known, we do have this asset management plan that we are addressing. All of those are going to be taken in account as we move forward.

I do want to say that we have made some improvements in terms of working with municipal governments to address some of these needs, as was mentioned in my Minister's statement earlier today. We will continue to address...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier in the session, I did answer questions from another Member in terms of multi-sports funding and games, and we did say that we did earmark funding for the Arctic Winter Games as well as the Western Canada Games. I know there are other multi-sport games within the Northwest Territories that do need to be addressed, and I have brought it up to my Cabinet colleagues. Any other funding to address those games would be brought forward through a supplementary appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are doing an asset management plan with each of the communities. It is something that we have been focusing on moving forward. It is not only the concerns of the communities that the Member has brought up, but it is something that we will have to have discussions with administration, as well as mayor and council, leadership, obviously, making sure that we are both working together to address the issue. We are going through an assets management plan for our communities and assure the Member that we are going to work with that. There is a responsibility on both sides...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I had mentioned in standing committee when we did do the presentation, we are going to be doing a reporting system as well as evaluating the program itself. As it is going to be the first year of operations, we really don't know. As we evaluate the program, we'll have a better understanding of what those costs are going to be, and definitely going through the process what we're doing right now, of putting it through the budgetary system. Right now, we're really not sure what we're going to be looking at, but if we were going to put it on average, it would be about $1.2...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will commit to doing a follow-up on the gas tax. I have had meetings with the Member on communities, and not just in particular in his region but communities across the NWT, and, like I said, if it comes up this weekend, we will have those discussions. I know there has to be more than just us being at the table; right? We need to have reliable staff working at the municipal governments, Indigenous governments, with the designated authorities, to address some of these issues, but I think that is something that needs to be addressed because, if we are not going to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It will be external. We will be going through an RFP for this work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Eleanor Young, deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, and on my immediate right is Gary Schauerte, who is the director of corporate affairs. Thank you.