Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the new youth centre in Fort Resolution. I have questions for the Minister of MACA. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has seen four years of spending for youth, probably record spending for youth in this Assembly and also as a youth Minister. Does the Minister agree that strategic spending that supports youth today will reduce social problems in the future? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree with the Member’s comment and I think this whole Assembly agrees with it. That’s why this Assembly has determined that in the life of the 16th Assembly the amount of money that we’ve put into youth is unprecedented in any Assembly before us. I think that goes a long way in showing that we do recognize that investing in youth is a very good issue and it’s something that we all support. Thank you.
Does the Minister agree that an increase in spending in the area of youth will reduce the cost of health, housing, income support and education in the future? Thank you.
Thank you. I do agree that a solid investment in the youth will alleviate a lot of the issues that the Member has raised. Again, I think I pointed out before, it’s one of the reasons, as Members of this 16th Assembly, we’ve determined that the youth are a very important investment, and I think we’ve proven that with the amount of money that we’ve put into youth in the last four years. Thank you.
Thank you. In Fort Resolution this government and municipal government has spent I think over $1.5 million to build a youth centre. It would be important to maximize the future spending there, utilize that building. Does the Minister support more funding going into a small community’s committee to Sustainability on Rural and Remote Communities committee so that those communities can provide more support for our youth?
Thank you. The committee for Rural and Remote Communities was a very important committee that provided very important advice to the government in allocating funds, and I think through some of the work of the committee we’ve recognized on that committee, too, how important it is to invest in the youth.
The $400,000 that we recommended going into the Regional Sports Program I think is an excellent example of the investment in youth. The Youth Centre Funding Initiative is another good example of that. We actually doubled it from $250,000 to $500,000 for the youth centres across the Northwest Territories and we’ve had, I think, almost every youth centre in the Northwest Territories has taken advantage of the program, and we look forward to seeing the new youth centre in Fort Resolution. I understand they’ve done some excellent work there. Again, it’s a commitment by the community itself, because they took the initiative to invest in a youth centre, as we’ve seen across the Northwest Territories. I’ve been fortunate to have attended a few openings. Paulatuk has also decided that a youth centre was a priority in their community. So we’re starting to see a lot of community-driven priorities and allocation of funds towards those priorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time for question period has expired. I’ll allow the Member a final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. We all understand that it’s very important to spend more money on the youth and that we provide supports for the future of the Territories. Will the Minister direct his staff to look at possible realignments in the funding to support the Hamlet of Fort Resolution to hire a qualified youth worker so that the infrastructure that we’ve built does not go to waste? Thank you.
Thank you. I think in the communities that have put up a youth centre like Fort Resolution, I don’t think those infrastructure projects will go to waste. I think the communities themselves have the ability, through their O and M budgeting process, to allocate funds as they see fit, and most of the communities would have recreation workers.
As a department, as a government, we also provide $825,000 to all the communities across the Northwest Territories for recreation purposes. That’s on top of the O and M monies that we give the communities. So the community itself would have the ability to adjust their budgets so they could take advantage of the new youth centre. I’m sure they have someone to work in the youth centre, but they do have the ability to adjust their budgets to hire people as they see fit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to the orders of the day, item 5.
---Unanimous consent granted
The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
