Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the deputy minister for her answer. I am still struggling with this, though. I am not talking about retirement. I am not talking about leave. I am talking: what is the best service for the residents of the Northwest Territories? When I talk about looking at the position being in Fort Smith, again, we are talking two taxbased communities that don't utilize or need that service as much as the smaller communities. So, when we are looking at these cuts, it was not logically done, in my opinion, because most of the work, the capacity that needs to be done is in the smaller communities. If we are not building the capacity in the smaller communities, we are going to have people who keep on coming back in.
The other issue I have is that this position could have been done by somebody from the Northwest Territories. When I talk about that position, there are lots of people who have developed their skills in the communities who could move up. The capital position needs more of a specialized approach to it. Will the Minister look at this and come back with a more logical approach to this and change it to not be either delete the position or look again at where they are going to put this position? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The works position actually did assume the capital planner position in that region. When we look at restructuring we can take another look at them and see if the placements are in the right places; however, recognizing that not all regions did have this position before. Many regions went without, and that is not only large communities. The two positions not only have to serve the six communities in the Sahtu, they have to serve all of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Thompson.
So, I guess what I am looking at is, this is a fiscal cut; this is why we did it. So it is going to have a hindrance to the smaller communities in my riding, and I don't care, we can call it potato or potahto, it is still going to have a hindrance in my communities. They are still going to have the issue of trusting the individual from Fort Smith or Yellowknife, and those individuals need to know what is going on. I understand that the works guy moved into the capital position. I am well aware of that, but I am not talking about him. I am talking about the position that needs to be done within the communities, for the communities.
Again, I am starting to feel that you are going to look at it again after the fact, and that is a concern for me. If you are going to reorganize and look at things again, then why are you making these cuts? You shouldn't make a cut until after looking at where it is best fitted. This is my concern. I understand that the Minister will follow through on what she has to do, but it is still hindering the smaller communities and the communities that I represent. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. For clarity, direct questions to the Chair. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The commitment to look at the positions isn't because we are doing the cuts now and looking at it later. The commitment to actually look at restructuring of the whole department is because we have a new Minister and a new deputy minister, and so it makes sense that, with new upper management, we would be looking at efficiencies and revisiting the whole of the department's services and programs.
I would also like to say again, to reiterate, that only three regions actually had this position before, so two regions were totally off the map and, those two regions, we never had any complaints; the services were still provided. So I am not so sure that we do need to have a sole person to just take care of one region when four other regions were getting served by two people. So we will go down to the two people, and we will look at it after and see if it is the best usage of the time. If we have complaints or if it does not work, then we can look at that later, but, yes, I am not going to fix anything that is not broken. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. During the review of the business plan, we talked a little bit about the community governments' compliance with the gas tax reporting requirements. I am wondering, because the business plan review took place six months ago, whether the Minister can update us on the level of compliance with gas tax reporting. Has it improved at all? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have been working diligently with the communities to get the reporting in, and we are anticipating that by March 31st all communities will have their reporting in. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is good news. How has the department been able to turn this situation around? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department provides supports to all community governments in the administration of their obligations as a government. When we notice that communities are having a little bit of difficulty, we actually bump up our support to those governments and offer to go in. It can be one-on-one. We can be working with them intensely. Again, once communities have identified a problem or we see a problem, we intensify our support to that community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the response. That is not what the Office of the Auditor General showed, but I am happy to hear that this is now the approach that the department is taking. Will this be the approach that the department will take on those issues that were identified by the Office of the Auditor General as needing more attention from the department? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. All of the recommendations through the Auditor General's report have been taken very seriously, and we are working diligently to fulfill all of the recommendations. One thing we should note is that one of the biggest areas that we recognize that we need to step up is just the paperwork. There were a lot of visits done into communities, there were supports provided, that we actually didn't keep track of, so, as part of our commitment to the recommendations of the audit, we are actually increasing our tracking of supports we provide to the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am wondering about the recreation funding. I don't know if this is exactly on the right activity line. Often we find that the arenas around some of the smaller communities are not operational all year or sometimes not operational for a year or longer. In the past, I think there has been longer. Lately, we have built some youth centres. Again, a little bit of difficulty funding youth centres.
I am wondering if I could ask the Minister if the recreational funding activity is the money that would be used to support the ongoing operation of an arena or a youth centre? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With the New Deal in 2007, it is up to communities to decide what they are using their funds for. We provide the funds to the communities. They decide within their capital planning process what type of infrastructure they would like, whether it is an arena or youth centre, whatever it may be, swimming pool, et cetera, and then they use the operating and maintenance funding that we provide them as well to be able to operate those facilities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If there were funding needed to operate an arena or keep the youth centre open, the Minister is advising me now that that money is coming from the community government funding on page 331 and not the recreational funding, which is also on that page as a community government contribution. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, if they are looking at an arena, then they do have to use that from their operation maintenance funding. We do have a small funding for youth centres. It is $500,000 a year that we provide, and that is specifically for youth centres. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is that $500,000 incorporated into community government funding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, it is found in the recreation section of the binder. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Recreation funding of $825,000. Of that, $500,000 is used for youth centres? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 340, it shows the youth centres funding for $500,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wasn't sure where the funding was situated, so I am happy that it is not in this section. Just the same line of questioning now for arenas, to operate the arena. Where does that funding come from? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The operation of the arena if a community sees fit, that that is what they decide to operate is found on page 330, and it is under grants, contributions and transfers, the $81,081,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister when the last time the funding model, all of the money that is going to communities, has been reviewed? It appears as though sometimes, depending on how the year goes, they don't have enough money to fully operate an arena or the arena opens up fairly late. I was wondering if the Minister could advise, when they are doing the funding for the communities, if they contemplate all of the infrastructure that is in the community and if they target funding towards the infrastructure in that community.
I guess the reason I am asking this question, Mr. Chair, is because, prior to the New Deal, there were some arenas built with direct capital from the Government of the Northwest Territories. When the New Deal was created, I don't know if there has been substantial increase in the O and M, but I know that in the capital there haven't been any increases there. I am not sure that it shows a significant increase here as well.
I am wondering if there has been some sort of budget review, I guess we will call it for lack of a better term, at the community level so that we ensure that huge, expensive assets or infrastructure items like arenas are not sitting there empty, not used, when the department, even recreation, supports and encourages residents to become more physically active and so on and so forth, and also some responsibilities for youth. I am wondering when that review occurred last. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The New Deal came out in 2007, and that was when the Government of the Northwest Territories stopped telling communities what to do with their funds and actually started listening to the communities and allowing communities to decide their own.
In 2014, though, we did do another funding review. At that time, when we looked at the operating and maintenance, we did take into consideration all of their core infrastructure needs, and an arena is a core infrastructure. It is in the category of core infrastructures. At that point, we realized that, I can't remember the exact figure, I think it was $39 million in deficit. We presented to FMB a package to deal with the deficits within a five-year period. It came back and said that they would want over 10 years.
We have a 10-year commitment actually, and that is why you see new increases every year to address the gap. I think at this point we are now at $34 million. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I am saying is that, yes, the operating and maintenance is included with the communities and it does take into account the fact that they would have an arena as well as other core infrastructure in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I thought the Minister had indicated that the review was done in 2014 and that it was a 10-year plan to recover the deficit. I was more or less asking, not about what type of deficits were accumulated, but why, maybe, the deficits got accumulated to start with? Trying to operate some infrastructure that was not funded for? The Minister indicated the arena is a core infrastructure that gets funding. I am wondering why it occurs that they are not able to operate the arena. I guess that is more of a comment, but if the Minister wants to comment on that, that would be fine. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am done.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I stated, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs spends a lot of time with communities to develop their community plans. We try to give them recommendations. If they are, for example, building a fire hall that is too big or an arena that is too big, when they have the infrastructure in place, we talk to them about their plans in regard to what it will cost to run it.
There are certain categories that they are allowed to spend their monies on to take care of their needs. Although some community governments, in all honesty, are not using their funding appropriately. We have had community governments that have loaned out some of their funds to Aboriginal governments. We have had some community governments that have decided to use quite a bit of funding for things like travel, etc. When those things do occur and we get alerted about them in their quarterly reports, we do try to work with the communities to try to provide them with advice on how they should be spending their money. Again, with the New Deal, it is the community governments' determination on where they want to spend their money. If they would rather send their council members on trips versus having an arena open 24-7, then that is the choice of the community government, but we do fund them appropriately within their operating and maintenance to be able to run the arena. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
