Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member gives me more credit than I actually have in terms of authority and power. Mr. Speaker, we can't just come out and start to just one-off and pick out one facility for one community. We have to start looking at our plan. We have, in our budget, that we're going to be voting on during the session, indicated that we need $1 million to do some planning. We need some consultation work, we have to start putting it in order. We also have to work on how the MRIF money is going to flow out to the different communities. We have to start developing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community of Nahanni Butte has certainly made their views known. I have received a petition. I have received letters from practically every student and every youth from that community. It’s been in the media. We have heard it from the honourable Member for Nahendeh on several occasions now. We’ve gotten the message. We’ve heard it from other small communities that there has to be a new focus on recreational facilities and we intend to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been very difficult in the last many years to put recreational infrastructure in the communities and put it through the capital planning process and have it compete against water treatment plants and sewer lagoons. This year we have some new monies and we have a considerable amount compared to what we had for capital projects and infrastructure.

We certainly support recreational infrastructure being put back on the radar screen. It’s something we want to work towards as social Ministers to improve the quality of lives. So capital infrastructure...

I will take the request to consider the recreational facilities in the small communities. It’s an issue that has generated a lot of discussion over the last while and it has been something that has been put on the back burner for a considerable amount of time as our budget for capital has been reduced. Over the next while, we may have an opportunity to do something about it. We would like to be able to have a good, thorough discussion over it. I will commit to making sure that Nahanni Butte, Gameti, Enterprise, Kakisa and Detah and all these communities are all part of the discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to provide Members with an update on an initiative being undertaken to address our government's commitment to support healthy lifestyle choices as outlined in the GNWT Strategic Plan - Self-Reliant People, Communities and Northwest Territories, A Shared Responsibility.

Tomorrow, February 12, 2005, is Northwest Territories Ski Day. As part of the celebrations, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is pleased to announce that through the Pan Territorial Sport Strategy, a new Ski Promotions Program has been developed in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to reassure the Member that I do have a heart.

---Laughter

I also want to point out that the letter that was drafted to the community of Nahanni Butte was drafted before we had approval for additional dollars to put towards our capital plan. So now that circumstances have changed, we have to look at our criteria and we have to be able to consult with the community. So I would like to request that the Members bear with us until we develop a plan of how we are going to expend that money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am assuming the need he’s talking about is the gymnasium in Nahanni Butte.

----Laughter

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of need across the board. We have to recognize that there is still considerable demand for investment in our water and sewer programs. We have had, in the last while, guidelines set with the federal government as to how we are going to deal with water, how we are going to deal with waste water. We have to make sure we can invest in those things. Some of the dollars that are flowing forward from the federal government come with criteria attached to where...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been focused on the youth in terms of our initiatives over the last while; we will continue to do so. I certainly will heed to the direction provided by the Members over the recreation facility issue in the smaller communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have been working hard to accommodate some of the needs of our youth. We have been doing a lot of planning. We have been able to convince our Cabinet, our Financial Management Board, that we need more dollars in terms of infrastructure and where we are looking at some flexibility so that some of this money can be used towards recreation. We’ve also been establishing a program called the Community Initiatives Program, where there is $1 million there that communities have been tapping into for baseball diamonds, youth centres and soccer fields, so that they are not out there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly I can appreciate the Member's concern for the small communities. We have a number of communities that need gyms. The price tag on a gym is $1.5 million to $2 million. If we start adding the number of communities, which are Nahanni Butte, Enterprise, Kakisa, Detah and Gameti, we are looking at over $10 million if we start factoring in all the communities that we need.

We would like to be able to address their needs in recreation in the next little while. We have some money, we have some flexibility now that we didn’t have for many years, but at...