Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2017-2018 Main Estimates for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $2.56 million from the 2016-2017 Main Estimates, which is a 2.4 per cent increase.

These estimates continue to support the Government of the Northwest Territories' objective of ensuring a strong and sustainable future for the government and its programs by managing expenditures due to limited revenue growth.

The 2017-2018 Main Estimates include an increase of $1.6 million from the 2017-18 business plan...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. All of the recommendations through the Auditor General's report have been taken very seriously, and we are working diligently to fulfill all of the recommendations. One thing we should note is that one of the biggest areas that we recognize that we need to step up is just the paperwork. There were a lot of visits done into communities, there were supports provided, that we actually didn't keep track of, so, as part of our commitment to the recommendations of the audit, we are actually increasing our tracking of supports we provide to the communities. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I can commit to is that I will do my best. Our department will do the best to try to get the working group resolutions out and finished and agreed to by the next business planning process. We will share that with the organizations, that that is our timeline, and we will push them towards meeting that timeline. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just relying off memory. I believe that we met with the Municipality of Hay River in December, was our last meeting, and we will be calling together all of the tax-based communities, the six communities, in April of this year. At that point, we will be looking at the gaps, the areas that they are having difficulties with, and deciding how much funding we will need, what is the best use of resources, and what is the best way to roll out the program for ground ambulance and highway rescue services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, the money that we had for wages for the public service capacity initiative was $115,000, and then, we are returning the master training funding to Brilliant North of $100,000. Yes, there is a decrease of $15,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to provide an update on plans to move the operations of the Western Canada Lottery Program within government and the Department of Municipal and Community Affair's response to the Sutcliffe Report.

In April 2015, the department commissioned the Government of the Northwest Territories: Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity Review Report, also known as the Sutcliffe Report, to review the sector and provide advice on potential improvements. The Sutcliffe Report was tabled in November 2016.

The report included 18 recommendations for improvements. Of these, 12 were accepted...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once all of the results in the survey are compiled, which we are in the process of doing right at this moment, we will be tabling the document. At that point, it can be used for whatever people would like to use it for.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have been working diligently with the communities to get the reporting in, and we are anticipating that by March 31st all communities will have their reporting in. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do recognize that when we were providing services, it tends to be that mostly youth were taking part in the activities for sports and recreation. There is a huge population that has gaps, including seniors and women. We were also noticing that we need more women involved in some of our supports for sports and recreation. These are two areas, along with others, that we will be addressing with the five organizations when we look at the gaps in services, the overlaps, and try to decide where best all of the five organizations, and ourselves as the Government of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did public service announcements through the television. We do radio announcements as well. I am not sure if the Member is looking for us to knock on doors. Currently, we do not do that. If the Member is looking at providing feedback from people into our development of the emergency plan, we could probably find some way to implement feedback from the residents on Ingraham Trail when we are developing the emergency plan for Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.