Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Government of the Northwest Territories decides that it is better fitted within the Executive, I would not fight that. However, in saying that, I am the strongest advocate to actually keep it within the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, especially since I am the Minister and such a strong advocate and previous user of this program. I think that, in all honesty, it is best protected where it is at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Unfunded positions are treated the same way as funded positions in that we look at the job duties that are needed for the position. We then do a job description that we submit to human resources for a job evaluation, and they do a pay grade.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will do a review again, but currently, the only communities that can actually provide ground ambulance supports are those communities that have the infrastructure in place to be able to initiate the call and to be able to respond to a call. As pointed out before, since the New Deal in 2007, communities themselves make their own capital plans, and so within that, they decide if they want to do something such as building a fire department or an ambulance service or any of these services within their communities, or if they would rather use other services. At this point...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll take that into consultation. We'll take that under advisement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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.

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. 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.