Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask the Minister responsible for Sport and Recreation and Youth some questions about track and field that I raised in my Member’s statement earlier today. I noted that, of course, Hay River is hosting the prestigious NWT Track and Field event next week and it’s actually their 25th anniversary, and our children from the small communities look forward to those track meets. However, my concern, as pointed out by the Grade 6 students, is that back in the smaller communities they don’t have proper practice facilities. In fact, in Fort Simpson they would like to see a new track and field.
I was wondering if the ministry has done any assessment of the smaller communities of how to produce… It would be similar to playground equipment, provide track facilities so that they can practice on the same kind of turf so that they can get the same type of experience as they do when they get to Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
[Microphone turned off] …on that, but I can tell the Member and all the Members that the communities, with their community public infrastructure money and with some changes to the gas tax money, are able to use some of those funds to identify infrastructure. Track would fit the criteria and they’d be able to make the decision to put a track in the community if that was their desire. Thank you.
I’m glad there’s some flexibility as the Minister has said. There are just some new changes to the rules.
What other ways does the ministry support track and field in NWT communities? Thank you very much.
Through a lot of our youth programs and that we have with our sporting partners across the Northwest Territories, they run a lot of clinics in the small communities. There are many different types of sporting clinics they have in the communities. Track may be one of them. I would have to confirm that. But there’s a lot of opportunity out there for those in the small communities who have a desire to get somebody in there to help them with some training. The opportunities are there. Thank you.
Much has been said about some extra money for infrastructure. I was wondering if the ministry can consider that moving forward, because I know that, like I said, I referenced finding some funds to help our schools with playground equipment.
I wonder if we can work towards finding a small pot of additional funds to assist communities in creating track-type facilities as well.
Again, all the money we give for capital infrastructure, we give to the communities and they make the decisions. As well, with the gas tax money. With some of the new Building Canada Plan money, if the project fits and that criteria fits, they would be able to use that too.
As far as identifying any other pots of money, we’ve been able to work very closely with our provincial and territorial colleagues in trying to access any extra monies that might be available. If there are any monies available from the federal government, we’ve become quite good at trying to access some of that money and passing that on to the community. At the end of the day, we’ve always said that the community has the authority to make the decision on infrastructure projects like this and we will support them in any way that we can.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that, like the Minister had said, he has been exposed to other types of funding. Federally, it may even be CanNor, because I know that in the smaller communities you can build small facilities for lower costs just for the same type of track conditions that are in Hay River. But in Fort Simpson we’re talking about a full standard track, and that’s probably a couple hundred thousand dollars. That’s the capacity that they’re asking.
Moving forward, will the Minister help us do a capacity estimate, as it were, to create a new track?
That’s one of the roles that our department plays now, is we work with the communities to help them with technical advice, financial advice if we have ways they can access the funding or use the funding, and any other advice that we can give them. We will work closely with the community.
I can say that I believe it was the community of Fort Smith that just finished a track that they used some of their capital money to build too. I haven’t seen it yet, but I understand it’s a fairly good track. The opportunities are there, and again, the communities will take advantage of those opportunities and we will work very closely with them.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
