Thank you, Mr. Chair. That money was a reduction to the contribution to NWTAC. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. What’s the total funding that NWTAC receives from MACA? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It was $280,000, but it is now $270,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Any complaints or issues from NWTAC with the reduced funding level? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, actually there was none. The NWTAC, LGANT, and some of the organizations that we make contributions to recognize that there may be some reductions coming, and they were willing to do their part, looking at the bigger picture, understanding that, you know, we were trying to do what we can to free up more money that we can allocate to the community governments as per the formula funding reviews. They were cooperative and, I mean, nobody likes reductions, obviously, but there wasn’t a wholesale complaint to this reduction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. No other questions.
Ms. Green.
No questions at this time.
Any further questions on page 331? Seeing none. Information item on page 332. Seeing none. We shall go back to activity total on page 330. Municipal and Community Affairs, directorate, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $3,815,000.
Agreed.
Agreed. Moving on to page 334, Municipal and Community Affairs, public safety, operations expenditure summary. This page will be deferred. We’ll go into detail on page 335. Questions? Mr. Simpson, go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister knows, I brought this up in the House the other day. The ground ambulance and highway rescue. I see it’s being cut from $400,000 to $185,000. Was this $400,000 fully subscribed last year? I’ll start with that.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The answer is no, it wasn’t fully subscribed to. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There was $400,000 available, and I know that the town of Hay River is lacking funding in this area. Why wasn’t all the money allocated, if it was budgeted? Because there are governments in need. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is an application-based program and they can apply for up to $40,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Any further questions, Mr. Simpson?
Yes, thank you. Does the Minister know how much was doled out of the $400,000? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister McLeod?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we’re just trying to pull out that information, but I can assure the Member it wasn’t fully subscribed to. We will get the exact number, the exact amount, and we’ll share it with the Member. If I talk long enough, they might be able to pull it up in the briefing notes. I’ll just let you know that the NHL draft is tonight and we’re hoping that Toronto makes a good pick and can plan their Stanley Cup parade for next year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
---Laughter
Thank you, Mr. McLeod, for that update. Any further questions? Mr. Simpson.
Yes, thank you. Is this fund, can it be subscribed to and applied for and the community get $40,000 as they save up to purchase a new vehicle? Because I know one of the big expenses is the capital cost. Can they apply over four or five years, get that $40,000, bank it, and put it towards the purchase of a new vehicle? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is correct. I mean, they can apply for it every year. They can bank it, and they can also supplement it with their O and M funding or their capital funding as well, to offset the cost. The Member is absolutely correct, they can bank it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Any further questions? Mr. Simpson.
Nothing further right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Committee, any further questions on page 335? Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just was kind of curious about this program initiative, too. Assuming that we live on the highway, plus at the same time of course there are needed resources at the local level. If not the success of this program being application-based and making it available for community governments to access at least some supplementary funds to at least keep their operations going in terms of providing ground ambulances, especially for communities along the highway. If the application base is not working, not succeeding, is the department considering perhaps a program initiative? This is a vital and critical need in terms of ensuring that, you know, we have a mode of transportation for people that would travel on the highway or else in the local community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, and that’s part of the work we did when we did the review. One of the challenges that we face in the communities is that they may want the equipment that they need, but there’s some training capacity. They need some training. There was also a liability issue. We’ve actually had a community sell an ambulance that they had bought, when they realized there was a huge liability without the proper training. We’ve tried to make training available through the School of Community Government. I think in conjunction with DOT, we’ve made some training available to help build up the capacity so people can be first responders. The review was done, and communities came to realize that there was a liability in trying to provide ground ambulance or highway rescue services without the proper training, so we continue to address that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This has been an ongoing initiative for some time. I understood that there was some interdepartment cooperation involving another department that’s culminated in this program initiative and its application base. Surely we’ve identified the challenges, namely the capacity issue and the need for training, at the same time, liability issues. What is the department doing to at least mitigate those challenges, to ensure that the ground ambulances are made available, at least the resources, at the local level? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the department, as I said before, has done some communitybased first responder training. We want to improve the capacity of our staff and volunteers; and then also a webbased tool kit to help communities recruit and train volunteer first responders. Then we have the, we had the, work that was just done, and they identified some challenges that we’re facing. I mean, I can assure the Member and all Members, actually, that we recognize that this is a service that’s required by some communities, but then we also respect the communities’ desire to have more training so that they can be first responders without the liability. There are opportunities for communities through some of the funding that they receive from the department, along with applying for the pot of funding here, the $185,000 pot of funding, to help them with some of their capital costs that they may require to provide this service. The big one is to build the capacity so they can be first responders. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is concerning that there’s a reduction from $400,000 to $185,000. What is the longterm vision that the department has in terms of providing the services to local governments? At the same time, what are some immediate priorities to make those funds are publicly known and ensure that communities can access them? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the communities are aware of the money that’s available through this particular grant and contribution. They are aware of the funding. The longterm goal is to see as many communities that may be on the highway system, or any community for that matter, have the capacity, the training and the equipment they need to provide this service. We will work with them. If we come to a point where we have to come back to the Assembly to enhance the pot because we have more people that are trained up and more communities that are wanting to access this money, then it’s something that we will consider at the appropriate time. Right now the communities recognize that they have some challenges, and we’re helping them to try and address those challenges. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Next, Mr. Thompson. Sorry, Mr. McNeely.
No, I didn’t have my hand up there, Mr. Chair.
Well, perhaps it’s Mr. Testart then. Mr. Testart.
