Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the budgets for this year have already been set. I would have to take that under consideration and review the situation with each community. Each community has unique needs and we have historically dealt with the communities and tried to address the issues that are causing them concern and will continue to do so, and if there’s a mechanism of working some kind of fiscal arrangement, then we’ll explore those options. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response from the Minister. That was from February 15th. Now we are into June. The design phase is going to start soon and they will be expecting $550,000 from the Early Child Education Centre to get them through the design stage. I would like to ask the Minister if he could commit in carrying the cost for the design and the preliminary site development stage. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, there is and some discussion has already taken place. There is discussions and concerns brought forward by the two associations that we work with and have working groups with. We have had discussions with the community. We’ve been alerted of areas of concern. For the most part, the communities have come back and informed us that the funding formula is okay but the funding amount may be not adequate. So they’re asking us not to change the formula, but maybe look at the amounts that are allocated through the formula and that maybe we need to do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The social envelope Ministers gather regularly and one of the issues we have been working on is a Homelessness Strategy. We have done work on that. There have been papers brought forward and we are bringing forward requests for funding and building things into our business plans. One of the things that has been identified as the need to the Homelessness Strategy is the service provided by the SideDoor. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to recognize my daughter Kim and my son-in-law Raymond Wainman and, Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to introduce Rylan James Robert Wainman, my grandson.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We always take the position to deal with the communities that accumulate a deficit and I’d like to point out we only have, I think this year we have four communities that have accumulated deficits and we continue to work with a recovery plan, we work on doing analysis where they may have overspent or where there are issues about shortfall. So we’ll continue to do those things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been working on a number of funding allocations that we provide to the communities. We have had discussions with the NWT Association of Communities. We have had discussions with LGANT, Local Government Administrators in the Northwest Territories, and we’ve also had a discussion in the communities with the different municipalities about a number of areas where we provide funding. Of course, the New Deal is something that’s on the drawing board and we have rolled out the information and communications to the community. We’ve also been allocated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during the budget session, I spoke to the desire of the Children First Society in Inuvik to have their needs incorporated into a new school being built up in Inuvik. Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak on the work that they continue to do.

I believe theirs is a worthy cause, Mr. Speaker, and I will continue to be an advocate for the society. Mr. Speaker, the society has put together an excellent proposal to justify their position. Over 30 businesses and agencies have given letters of support and close to 300 residents have given their support by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response from the Minister. That was from February 15th. Now we are into June. The design phase is going to start soon and they will be expecting $550,000 from the Early Child Education Centre to get them through the design stage. I would like to ask the Minister if he could commit in carrying the cost for the design and the preliminary site development stage. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The social envelope Ministers gather regularly and one of the issues we have been working on is a Homelessness Strategy. We have done work on that. There have been papers brought forward and we are bringing forward requests for funding and building things into our business plans. One of the things that has been identified as the need to the Homelessness Strategy is the service provided by the SideDoor. Thank you.