Statements in Debates
The Public Works and Services standards for building construction usually focus on safety and design efficiencies, and not so much on artwork. It’s something that we still haven't adopted as part of our government to include in our infrastructure. Adding an art component to our infrastructure sometimes doesn't make sense, as in the case of water treatment plants or sewer treatment facilities. It adds to the cost overall, and it really starts to complicate things when we start designing facilities and buildings and try to accommodate the artwork.
This is something we have to have further...
Mr. Speaker, the question is beyond my responsibility as MACA’s mandate and jurisdiction. It should be directed towards Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I would expect that all departments are paying close attention to the survey and the evaluation that’s going on in Aklavik and will respond accordingly.
I trust that question was posed to me.
There are a number of sources of funding that have been flowing to the communities up to now that deal with water quality, water supply and things of that nature.
The Member is right. We are discussing and negotiating a new source of funding with the Government of Canada called the Building Canada Fund. We’re also talking about an extension to the gas tax. Mr. Speaker, both these sources can be utilized for community infrastructure. At this time it’s really difficult to see how much of it will be earmarked for communities, but a portion, we believe, will...
I guess I should first point out that recreation workers work for the community governments and not for our government directly. We, in turn, have, through the new deal program, really tried to enhance the government funding in the communities. We also have a community recreation contribution program which all communities can apply to. We, as a government, spend roughly $5 million in the area of sports and recreation. The N.W.T. Sport and Recreation Council spends close to the same, around $4.5 million. We have increased our money through the youth centres, the youth contribution. So there is...
Mr. Speaker, the Member’s statement regarding the challenges facing communities in hiring trained recreational workers and paying them a salary that is comparable across the board is something we’ve recognized for some time. The N.W.T. Sports and Recreation Council has recognized it. We’ve had some early discussions on it. They have been quite concerned about the level of investment that goes into the bigger events, such as our Winter Games, Canada Games, and want to have discussions about what the challenges are in the community and the possibility of redirecting finances. So my answer to the...
Over the years we have really made the attempt to enhance our investments in our communities to deal with some of the real challenging areas. Recreation, of course, has been one area that we needed to see improvements in. We’ve increased the O&M funding to all our communities across the Territories, and in some cases that has been fairly significant. However, the investments are at the community council level — sometimes recreation doesn’t come out on the top, and other priorities overcome it in terms of investment.
We have certainly tried to expand our School of Community Government programs...
Mr. Speaker, energy costs are a concern to all of us. Public Works and Services has had the opportunity to test out a more economically and environmentally friendly alternative energy source at the North Slave Correctional Facility.
Providing heat for buildings using wood pellet boilers has been common practice in Europe for decades. It has provided reliable heating for hotels, office buildings and recreational facilities from Austria to Siberia. These systems save money due to the use of less expensive wood by-products, specifically crushed sawdust pellets. They also significantly reduce...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’d be glad to consider any applications that come forward from any of the communities across the Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to commit to coming back with that information. I know our programs are oversubscribed. We have, as I indicated, about 55 different initiatives and a great deal of them are geared towards youth at risk, and a lot of them are using it for different types of camps. We also have the Youth Abroad Program. We have the foster family coalition camp, and a sports and youth leadership conference, and youth forums and things of that nature, Mr. Speaker. However, I would have to commit to getting back with the number of applications that we receive overall....
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what list the Member is referring to, so I’d have to get him to clarify that.