Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my colleague Mr. Nadli’s initiative about establishing a community radio initiative, but I want to focus more on Nahanni Butte. I just completed my spring visit there and the community still remains without a radio, either CKLB or CBC.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs how he can assist this community. The radios have ceased working as a result of the flood last year and the anniversary of that flood is June 3rd. It’s been a full year and I’d like to know how the government will be helping the community restore much needed radio services. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is, and I would have to confirm it, but the radio station may have been down before the flood. I will have to confirm that.
I’m not sure if it would fit into any of our programs. Again, I would have to do a little bit of exploring and see if something like this would fit into one of our programs, whether the community may have the ability with the money that they receive from MACA – one of my favourite lines and I know you guys are getting tired of it, but it’s one I keep using. I’m not sure if that falls under the criteria where they may have the ability to do that themselves.
But I will commit to the Member that I’ll follow up on this and see what they’re responsible for and what we can do to assist the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I’m glad that the Minister wishes to understand it more. I believe I did a Member’s statement in our February/March sitting, and the issue is one of public safety and safety of the community. If there is another incident where there is an emergency, all the radios provide emergency services. So that’s one of the focuses.
I think out of the two radio stations, there was one down before the flood, and as a result of the flood, the other one stopped working. I think the Minister can maybe work with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I know that Mr. Nadli was able to point out that there is a meeting between the Minister and I believe the NCS board to work towards restoring the services in Nahanni Butte. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Members do a very good job of pointing out the fact that these radio stations may be needed during an emergency and I’m reminded of the federal program. We don’t know the details yet. It replaces the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program. There is some funding that should help with this. We don’t know if it would fit the criteria. Once we know the details and if community radio stations who would issue warnings qualified for this, we would be sure that we will try as a department to access some of this money to assist some of these communities to upgrade their radio stations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know that every time we put out a request before the government, it’s going to be big expenditures, but in this case to replace and get that CKLB up and running was about $7,000. I’m not too sure about the CBC aspect of it, but those are the numbers we are talking about, if the Minister can use those figures as he talks with his colleagues and works with his department in order to come up with a plan for the community. Thank you.
I will commit to having a conversation with my colleague in Education, Culture and Employment. Again, $7,000 was the figure I’d heard, and I’ve also committed to the Member that I will check the criteria of some of the money we allocate to the community to see if any of this qualifies under the money we supply to the community. Again, we are looking at $7,000 which may not seem like a lot and would be very important to have that service established again in not only the Member’s community but all the other communities where they rely on the local radio stations. Thank you, Mrs. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. McLeod.
---Laughter
The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
