David Krutko

I apologize.

Can the Minister tell me exactly how many communities are in that situation and how communities are requesting a carryover, so that we can get an idea what type of impact this is in regard to community stimulus money?

Can we have some order in the House? It’s kind of hard to hear the Minister’s good answers.

Mr. Chair, again, like Mr. Menicoche, I would inform the hamlet that this funding is there and they have had some situations with the SAO and whatnot and having to find an SAO, so they have been without an SAO for some time. But again, I know that Fort McPherson has been able to access federal funding where they were able to purchase Jaws of Life and they purchased an emergency canopy that sits on the back of a vehicle. They were able to access federal funding so that they basically can do some highway rescue. But again, I think it’s something that I think is important that we do work with...

I also think we should note that a $100 million contract was let through a negotiated contract for the school in Inuvik. A hundred million dollars yet I can’t get a goddamned house built in my riding for $300,000.

In regard to the Building Canada funds, the stimulus funding, again, some of the communities haven’t concluded those expenditures, regardless if it’s solid waste sites and whatnot. I’d just like to know what is the possibility of carrying over those funds to conclude those dollars that have been allocated in regards to the federal stimulus fund or the Building Canada funds. Is there a possibility of carrying those dollars over into 2011-12?

Again, I think that we have to be realistic here that we as government probably can’t cover off that $7 million. We are going to have to look for that internally. There are other things that have been requested in regard to shelter policies, looking at the possibility of other programs that people are requiring. I think also with the number of vacant housing units that we have on the ground, regardless if we’re trying to get them occupied, there’s still an ongoing cost to operate and maintain those units. You can’t walk away from that. I think that we have to be realistic that we have to...

Again, we have some 33 communities, every one of them unique, every one of them with challenges, but $300,000 is money but it’s not enough. I’d like to know what we’re doing to try to access federal program dollars for the emergency resources that may be under federal funding, whether it’s through the Coast Guard funding or funding for emergency responses. I’d like to know if there’s anything we can do as the government or working with federal agencies to access federal dollars to assist communities in these application-based situations. That’s the problem, is that some communities have the...

I would like to direct my questions to the Premier. Mr. Speaker, I find it kind of odd that communities I represent, the whole capital expenditures extends to about $2.5 million and half of that is the formula funding we give to our communities for infrastructure projects. Most of that is housing. Yet, Mr. Speaker, we are in the neighbourhood of the riding the Premier represents and you’re talking about $70 million of capital expenditures. We have high unemployment in our communities. Forty-five percent unemployment is unheard of in my riding. The issue I have with this government is do we...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to revenue joint emergency preparedness, for me I think that’s something that we have to be realistic about, knowing that we do have communities that have seen situations regardless if it’s threatened by floods or threatened by fires, and more importantly, even threatened by storms in which basically communities are impacted. I think that we have to be aware. Again, I notice that there’s been a major decrease in that area. I think, if anything, that we have to ensure that communities are up in regard to their emergency measures plans, and more importantly that...