Vince McKay

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate the participants who represented Team NT at the 2024 Canada 55+ Games. They were held in Quebec City from August 27th to 30th, 2024. The Canada 55+ Games provide an opportunity for Team NT to engage and compete with other athletes from across Canada. In addition to being an athletic competition, these games also provide an opportunity for participants to engage in other forms of competition and social activities with their peers.

Mr. Speaker, sports, recreation, and active living play a crucial role in promoting healthy individuals; a...

Mr. Speaker, I don't want to throw any communities under the bus here, but I will say that we have roughly about six communities -- I think a little bit more -- that are overfunded by -- by over 100 percent they're overfunded. And, again, the goal is not to impact the communities, but the goal is to distribute the funding fairly and equitably based on services provided, equipment being used, infrastructure within the community. So there is a little bit behind it. Again, we're trying to get the information out there, work with the communities, but it is over six communities that are overfunded...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this review of the formula funding has been going on for a while. Before my time, it's been reviewed a few times. In 2014, it was part of the NWTAC who brought in all the community governments, did a review. They had representations from communities across the North as part of their review. That review was done. It was then decided that changes needed to start happening in order to make the funding more fair and equitable. And since August of this year, our regional superintendents have been meeting and offering to meet with community governments to explain the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, right now a lot of the communities can apply to MACA to get that cost covered. However, again, depending on the level of service, so for an example the city of Yellowknife was raised -- you know, you'll have a base level of service of having an FP1001 it's called, which is a base level training for career firefighters. In a small community, that would be really excessive for them and that's a very expensive cost, so you'd probably end up with something like a defensive level. So depending on the community is what the cost is going to be. It's hard to actually...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm unaware of any costs for the training that they had in Nunavut; however, conveniently, I was actually just speaking to the department this morning regarding fire training and our ability to try to make some changes in it and training that will better serve the communities in the Northwest Territories, larger centres. Conveniently enough, I've been involved in the fire service for 30 years in the territories and larger centres have the benefit of having resources for training and the ability to do more training; however, it comes down to a level of service throughout...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the formula -- the funding provided for the formula we all know has been not enough for communities, and it's been an ongoing issue and it will continue to be an issue if it's not a priority. So right now what we're doing is we're taking the hundred -- roughly $110 million, we're dividing it, and our goal is to equitably divide it amongst the communities for their assets and their actual needs. And it's not ideal obviously. It would be nice to have 100 percent funding for all the communities, but the reality is we have to find a way that distributes this funding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The point behind this funding is not to run a community fully 100 percent. It is to operate the community's essential services, so your water and sewer, your public works department, you know, and to make sure that the funding is there for those key services. Every community has a right to operate their community the way they want. They can charge fees. They can charge, you know, service fees or recreation fees, that kind of thing. So the whole formula based on their operations is how MACA distributes the funds that we have -- currently have for the communities. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: The Northwest Territories 9-1-1 Service Annual Report 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm more than happy to -- and actually, I think we're sitting with the committee here soon to explain all this. But it is a pretty detailed formula based on the community's assets. So for an example, if we're calculating the O and M, we're taking the infrastructure, taking the safety and recreation of the community, the administration and the services, and we're calculating it all together to make the formula up. So there is a few steps to it; it's not just one simple step. And that's all based on what the community's needs are to provide those key services. Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members are aware, the formula funding that has been reviewed previously, and a few times, has been out there for a while. Since September -- August/September to now, MACA's been out engaging with communities through regional superintendents, also reaching out to communities to engage with them in regards to the new formula funding. So we made every effort. We're continuing to make effort to reach out to the communities to speak about the formula funding. In fact, just previously, on Monday, I met with -- myself and the Department of MACA, we met with SAOs and...