Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, it has always been in our plans to have consultation with all communities to see what their needs are. Our process allows for that. We want to be able to hear from all of the communities before I commit to taking one program, one project in our 20-year needs and moving it forward. We would like to review all the projects that are out there and then make a decision based on fairness and need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree that our youth today will be adults of tomorrow. I will look at our process, our standards and criteria that we use as a guideline, and we will be moving forward with a plan to address infrastructure in the smaller communities and put more emphasis on the recreation. We are hearing it from the Members on the other side and we certainly take it as direction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the last little while, we have had very good success in negotiating new pools of money for the communities to deal with some of the infrastructure deficit that we are facing. We have had an agreement or we received assurance that the money for the gas taxes is going to be rolled out in a certain way. That formula has been shared with us. We know we are going to get $37.5 million over the next five years under that program. We also heard today the Finance Minister announce that we will be looking at a base funding for capital for communities of $25...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently, Mr. Roland, Mr. Krutko and myself had the privilege of attending the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services long service awards. With so much talk these days of trying to recruit and retain health care professionals, it was encouraging to see so many people honoured for the service that they have provided to the regions. Honoured for 10 years, Mr. Speaker, were Jacqueline Doucette, Lucy Geno-Heath, Julie Rivard, Agnes Allen, and Michelle Lennie. Honoured for 15 years' service, Mr. Speaker, were Jane Baryluk, Olive Binder, Pat Grandy, Clara Phillips and...

Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to figure out which community would turn down money. If the community does not want to take the grant that we provide, that we collected in terms of property taxes, they don’t have to. We’re not forcing it on anybody. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I said the new initiative was a good idea, I didn’t say it was going to solve all our problems.

Mr. Speaker, we do have a number of communities like Fort Resolution, Fort Liard and Fort Providence where we have concerns raised by the community regarding property taxes and aboriginal rights. A number of things are factored in there. We have offered to these communities to go in, do an assessment; have a team of people go in and do the assessment. Up to now we’ve been told by the community of Fort Providence not to bother doing that. They don’t want our property tax assessment team...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, Mr. Speaker, we are not resisting. We have entered into discussions. We have initiated a study to look at the pros and cons of hamlet versus village. We want to be able to assure the community that the funding formula is calculated fairly and also that the money is factored in. All of the components that have to be factored in are also fair. This year, 2005-06, we are reviewing our community government funding policy, and we will be looking at all of the different communities to see how this rolls out and see which communities are being affected negatively....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t think it is my position to side or give my opinion as to where I personally think the Village of Fort Simpson should belong, whether a tax-based or a hamlet. My job as Minister of MACA is to ensure that we have healthy and prosperous communities. If Fort Simpson has a problem with financing in the capacity of village status, I would certainly want to talk to them about it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t often get an opportunity to recognize visitors in the gallery, so I want to take this opportunity to recognize a number of people. First of all, Blake Lyons, president of the NWTAC, is here with us, and also Yvette Gonzales, the executive director of the NWTAC. They are joining us today. We have the mayor of Enterprise, Winnie Cadieux, here along with Don Gray, the acting SAO. I would like to welcome them here.

---Applause

I would also like to welcome Mayor Raymond Michaud here to the gallery today. I believe we also have Maggi Levavasseur here...

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if I’m understanding the question correctly, but we are doing it already. We’re paying for all of what the Member has pointed out with our own sources. Right now, with the transfer of revenues from the property taxes, the communities will enjoy revenues that they don’t currently get and without the burden of the administration for the interim. At some point we’d like the communities to take it on and we will require additional resources, but at this point we are looking at doing it ourselves through the departments of Municipal and Community Affairs and Finance.