Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there was a contract, it was a $90,000 contract services and we heard concerns about the public wasn’t well aware of the consumer affairs division so we worked with a contractor to help us get that on the website to help get the message out there and make people aware that there is a consumer affairs division. A lot of feedback we got was people weren’t aware that there was one, so we’ve tried to make it more available to the public. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

No, thank you, Mr. Chair. We appreciate the Member’s comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the department, as I said before, has done some communitybased first responder training. We want to improve the capacity of our staff and volunteers; and then also a webbased tool kit to help communities recruit and train volunteer first responders. Then we have the, we had the, work that was just done, and they identified some challenges that we’re facing. I mean, I can assure the Member and all Members, actually, that we recognize that this is a service that’s required by some communities, but then we also respect the communities’ desire to have more training...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the money is for program development and training. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what I can commit to the Member is we will reconcile these numbers here with the Housing Corporation mains because I think it will show up in the Housing Corporation mains. Their mains are still getting an increase of funding partly from the federal government. What I will commit to do is I will reconcile this, and then I will share it with the Member. Hopefully, we will have a better understanding of how the numbers came to be. Mr. Chair, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. The audits were done. We have a couple of communities that are facing some challenges. I am not sure if it is appropriate to speak to those particular communities in a public forum such as this. If we enter into a briefing with committee, I would be glad to share some of the information, some of the details. Through the accountability framework, we are going to have the capacity now to pick up a lot of these issues soon. That will prevent a lot of our communities, as in the past, from getting into any financial difficulties. We will be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, our regional fire marshal or assistant fire marshals, as they’re called, will work with communities to identify some of the challenges they face. If there’s some training capacity or capacity issues they’ll help them design a program or help them get trained so they can deal with that. If there’s an equipment issue or if it’s a capital issue, then they will work with them to identify exactly what they need, what they could use, and then the community has it within the money that’s provided by MACA to purchase the proper equipment. My understanding is our fire...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. We’re just giving the amounts that were approved. As for the actual applications and the requests, we would have to go back and look at the applications, total the requests, and then we can share with the Member or all Members, if they require it. I will make that commitment to share that number with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. I mean, they can apply for it every year. They can bank it, and they can also supplement it with their O and M funding or their capital funding as well, to offset the cost. The Member is absolutely correct, they can bank it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we, I think, just finalized the draft, and we’re anticipating within a month or two that we will be able to have developed materials. Thank you, Mr. Chair.