Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight the significant progress being made by NWT community governments in planning and building the infrastructure they need to deliver quality programs and services within their communities.

Since 2007 when most NWT communities took on responsibility for the planning, design and construction of their community public infrastructure through the New Deal, we have seen impressive results. Community governments are provided with capital formula funding from the GNWT that they can use to bank, invest and leverage other sources of funding so...

Mr. Speaker, usually the process is they would fill out an application for each program that they apply to. The only one that I know of that they don’t have to apply to every year -- their name is basically kept on the list -- is the Seniors Preventative Home Maintenance Program. Once they’re on that list, then they would just continue to receive the service year after year. But as far as I know, they do have to apply for each particular program. The Member is correct, though, the senior’s income usually doesn’t change very much and we may have to take that into consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member makes a valid point and I think it’s a concern that we’ve heard on a few occasions. If there is an issue with the fact that some of the elders in his riding are unable to understand the letters, then I think we can work with the band or whoever we need to, to make sure they have a very good understanding of the letters so then they’d be able to respond back to the department. Thank you.

The Member is correct; the communities do have the option of hiring whoever they want to assist with their project, and that funding does come out of the capital money that’s advanced to the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When a community has a project that they are working on, they require assistance from MACA. Our regional staff will go into the community at their request and assist them in working out their capital plans and also advising them of funding and anything else, any other help that they might need, then the community would take it from there. We are available from the regional office to assist the communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA is aware of the situation in Sachs Harbour regarding the capital project that they put together. There are some outstanding issues that the community has to deal with, working with the consultant and the contractor. My understanding is they’re starting to deal with those issues as we speak and, hopefully, we’ll have a positive resolution here for the Member soon. Thank you.

We’ll continue to work with the communities and ensure that they are looking at building the highest standard. I would hesitate to go as far as imposing it on them. I mean, we can encourage and support them and we’ve tried to devolve a lot of the responsibility of local infrastructure. We’re able to do that with, as the Member mentioned, the Housing Corporation, and we’re able to do that because we basically control the capital dollars so we can impose standards on them as far as the communities go.

I’ll stick to my guns and say that I’m absolutely confident. The communities know best for...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, November 2, 2009, I will move that Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Some of the communities have applied for Building Canada money for specific projects that they’ve identified in their communities. For example, I think Aklavik used their portion of it for the new sewage lagoon and they matched the dollars and some of the dollars came from BCP. They’ve also identified some money for road upgrades through the economic stimulus fund. So the communities will let us know what their priorities are and we continue to work with them on capital plans.

As far as Mr. Aumond said, we’ve shared findings of the report with the communities and we...

The Member is twisting my arm to get me into Aklavik, but I will make that commitment that I will make it into the Member’s community. With that, we probably will have staff. We’ll leave the chequebooks in Inuvik and then we’ll...Thank you, Mr. Speaker.