Thank you, Mr. Chair. The audits are done every year. Then we review the audits. We have conversations with the communities if we need to but the audits are done every year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you for that clarification. Those are all of my questions.
Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I would like to follow up on my colleague’s questions about changes to the Cities, Towns and Villages Act to enable the tax-based municipalities to use local improvement charges for energy retrofit purposes. I heard from the department that they are doing research. I understood this was a fairly simple amendment that is being requested. The NWTAC is on record as requesting this change. What is the scope of the research that is being undertaken? Why can’t we get this done a lot quicker than four years? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we would like to try to get this in as quickly as possible. As I said before, we are doing our research. If that shows us that we are able to get this piece of legislation through or the amount of work that might be required to get this piece of legislation through, that is something that we will obviously consider. Let us finish the research, and then we will make a determination from there. I don’t think we are that far from finishing. Let us do that. Then we will make a determination at that time if it is just a quick fix to make an amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just trying to understand the scope of this research. Is the department looking at a total review of the CTV Act or just this specific very small change that is being requested to allow the tax-based municipalities to have the authority to use local improvement charges for this very specific purpose? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will refer that to Deputy Minister Williams. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Williams.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly, there is some urgency from the Member to move it forward with opening the CTV Act to allow this legislation to be put in place, or amendments to the legislation. By opening the CTV Act, there are a lot of other amendments that are required as well, so it doesn’t make sense just to open it for one piece. We have a number of items being raised by NWTAC over the years that we have to consider as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Williams. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I was a bit worried about that. I will just consider what I am going to do about that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Further comments or questions on page 323? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department can correct me if I am wrong in asking this question in this division, but I think this is okay. The description says this division is also responsible for the assessment of all land and improvements in the Northwest Territories. My question is relative to the mandate document item 3.1.2 where we state, “We will support community-based planning to help make land available for the construction of affordable housing.” In my former political life as a councillor for the city of Yellowknife, I know that the city had made an application to the department for a greater land application, in fact, for this purpose, to make more land available so that the city can do better long-term planning, in most part to support affordable housing. I wonder if the department can maybe provide some explanation as to why, to date, the greater land applications for the capital city do not pass and that the city is in fact in a position where they have to continually apply for piecemealed properties or piecemeal pieces of land on an as-and-when basis, rather than accepting the greater land applications. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
I will refer that to Ms. Young. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The process you are referring to, with the city approaching the department, was when the department had the responsibility for Commissioner’s land within the department. That issue was related to accessing Commissioner’s land. With Lands now being its own department, the question about dealing with lands itself would need to be addressed with the Department of Lands. Our role through this division is to support community governments in developing land use plans. We would support them with helping them hire consultants, reviewing the plans, and functions such as that. Our role no longer is related specifically to the access of land.
Thank you, Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It seems that the Minister of Lands got off the hook yesterday. It is the same Minister… Can’t we just get… No, I’m kidding.
---Laughter
Those will be my questions. I appreciate the response. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Anything further? Seeing nothing. I’ll call the page. Municipal and Community Affairs, community governance, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $2,262,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Committee agrees. We will move on to community operations. The activity total is on page 326, but we will consider the detail beginning on page 327. Questions on page 327, community operations, grants, contributions and transfers. I want to thank the PA grade six class for joining us. I hope you have a good time watching our exciting proceedings. Do we have any comments or questions on page 327? Seeing none. Moving on to… Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I notice that there is a contribution that took place in 2014-15, Management of drinking water in the NWT for $50,000, but there’s no further funding provided for that purpose. Was that money that we received from another order of government, or are we continuing to support the function in some other way? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s a reduction, but we do support the community in other ways. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I’m sure the Minister can probably guess my next questions, but so what are the ways that we actually support communities in protecting drinking water, if we’re not allocating $50,000 for it anymore? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this was money that was to help the communities as they applied for water licenses, and they do have some money through the money we provide to them. We provide them with some technical assistance and some administrative assistance, and I can assure the Member that the quality of the drinking water across the Northwest Territories, with the work that the communities have done building their own water treatment plants, is very good, and they’ve done a really good job with that. It was for water licenses, and they use the money that they have now, and we support them with our regional and headquarters staff. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don’t want to prolong this, so communities can use the funding that they get from MACA, which has incrementally increased, and that’s a good thing, and I know even in this budget, but they can use those funds to support their participation in water licensing and whatever? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. They do use the money that we provide to them to apply for their water licensing. As I said before, we do support them technically and administratively when we can. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the responses, and that’s all I’ve got on this, thanks.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Thompson.
In regards to this program, is this an expense through their water/sewer subsidy, or is it something else? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. They can use water/sewer or they can use their O and M funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s all my questions on this page, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Anything further, page 327? Seeing none. We’ll move to page 328, community operations, active positions. Questions on this page, 328? Seeing none. We will go back to page 326, the activity total. Questions on page 326, community operations, operations expenditure summary? Seeing none, I’ll call the page. Municipal and Community Affairs, community operations, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $2,043,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
We’ll move on to directorate. The activity total is on page 330, but we’ll begin with discussion of the detail on 331. Comments or questions on 331? Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I know it’s not a big decrease, but it looks like there’s $10,000 less for contributions here. It looks like this money is going to NWTAC, LGANT, and Arctic Energy Alliance. The $10,000 reduction, is that any of those specific organizations? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
