Thank you, Mr. Chair. This will benefit all friendship centres in the Northwest Territories. There is an old saying that, if you give somebody a fish, they will eat for one day. If you teach them how to fish, they can feed themselves for the rest of their life. I think this is akin to that, where we are helping fund a fundraiser. We will match the amount of money that they raise up to a further $180,000, then we are going to do it on a two-year basis, and then we will review it after that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Premier for that answer. That is a positive step. It's a two-year process, and I think that is a very good move by the department. I guess my concern is, if we are going to review it, is the funding still going to be able to be there, or are they going to review it and see if they need to increase the funding? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My expectation is we would probably review it after the first year. We would not see a gap in services. I think the expectation is that, with this funding, the friendship centres will be able to fundraise a significant amount of resources outside of the current core funding that they receive from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Premier for that answer. I greatly appreciate that we are looking at it after the first year and seeing how it works, because I, too, would hate to see a gap in an organization that does a lot of good work across the territories from what I have seen and heard from the people there. This is a very positive step, and I would like to thank the department for that.
My next question, though, again, is about the non-government organization stabilization fund. It is in the Department of MACA. The reason I am asking this is because, I believe, in the January 17th letter that was sent to the department, one of the other recommendations by SCOGO was that the NGO stabilization fund would actually be moved back to the Executive. Can the Premier confirm if this was part of that letter? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Premier McLeod.
Thank you. It was part of a response, and through you, Mr. Chair, I will ask Mr. Courtoreille to talk about our response in that area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Courtoreille.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the department's response dated January 12th through SCOGO, I mentioned that there are currently no plans for the Government of the Northwest Territories to transfer the NGO stabilization fund to the Department of EIA. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Courtoreille. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, and I thank Mr. Courtoreille for that answer. I guess my concern, though, is that PUB is being planned to be moved to the Department of Infrastructure, and the Standing Committee on Government Operations has made the recommendation that the NGO stabilization fund actually go back to the Executive. What is the difference between PUB and the stabilization fund? Why isn't that being moved back, as per recommendation from the committee? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess we don't see any difference. We are moving those functions to those departments that have the expertise to deal with those programs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Premier for that answer. I guess we are going to probably have a difference of opinion, because in my attendance at these meetings, the committee really felt that this should be put back into this department. This work started out and moved to the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, and I think this would be more beneficial as a department looking at this. I have seen some organizations come in to your department and ask for requests. Would this not be a better fit than the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is MACA has responsibilities for volunteerism and other voluntary services, and also dealing with the communities. So they're in a much better situation to deal with the funding requests and the services that are provided through that fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have to praise the Department of Community and Municipal Affairs for the great job that they do. They do a lot of good work with volunteers, but this is a different sort of fund. So, again, like I said, I have to disagree with the Premier on this, but at this point in time I have no further questions in this matter. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank my honourable friend from Nahendeh for raising this important issue; this is something that the Standing Committee on Government Operations, which I chair, has taken very seriously and made numerous recommendations for. I think the NGO Stabilization Fund will solve a couple of problems if it is moved back to executive. It does appear that the executive is taking action on ensuring necessary funds are provided to groups like the Friendship Centres, and that's an important cause, but it needs to be defined by some sort of policy. I know the Premier has made the commitments earlier about a funding policy for that. The crux of the matter is that the NGO Stabilization Fund currently sits in the area of the Department of Community and Municipal Affairs that promotes volunteerism. When questions have been put to the Minister as to the department's use of the NGO Stabilization Fund to promote volunteerism, the department and the Minister have conceded that it does not, in fact, promote volunteerism; it is for stabilizing NGOs, and many of our NGOs are third-party service providers, such as the Salvation Army, the YWCA. These are providing core services to residents, and they're not engaging volunteers, and they're not providing community-level activities. So, given that the public policy objective of MACA's role over the NGO Stabilization Fund is to promote volunteerism, and the fund does not do that, is the Premier willing to reconsider this and move it back to Executive so it can be used to stabilize third-party service providers that are NGOs? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We see MACA as providing community services and working with communities, and we feel that the NGO Stabilization Fund is best situated at MACA. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Testart.
Okay, does the Premier believe that this fund promotes volunteerism? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I said MACA deals with volunteerism. I think this fund primarily promotes community services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Mr. Testart.
Okay, thank you. I acknowledge the Premier's response, and I understand that this fund is not moving during his tenure as Premier. I think that's a shame, because Members on the standing committee have made numerous requests that this funding be moved and increased, and that has not happened. It's constantly over-subscribed. Assessments of the funding over the past, I think, 10 years have shown that it's underfunded. We need around $500,000 in the fund; we haven't seen any increases to that. Again, it's not helping promote volunteerism, which seems at odds with the Department of Community and Municipal Affairs' goals. I'll accept what the Premier is saying, but expect further advocacy on this NGO Stabilization Fund moving forward because it does not belong in MACA, and Members have been very clear on that. With that, I have nothing further. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Premier McLeod.
I thank the Member for his comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Further questions? Ms. Green, then Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, could the Minister please give us an overview of the responsibilities of the new deputy secretary for federal engagement? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member knows, with this new federal government, there have been certainly increased interactions at all levels, and with a lot more of the work being done in Ottawa. There's been a substantial increase in what we call FPTs, or federal-provincial-territorial meetings. Specifically, the deputy secretary will provide strategic advice to the Premiers, Ministers, secretary to Cabinet, and deputy ministers on an engagement that the federal government aim at achieving the Government of the Northwest Territories' key objectives; lead the development of an updated, strategic, collaborative, and cohesive, all-of-government approach to the Government of the Northwest Territories' relationships with Ottawa, with the aim of advancing the Government of the Northwest Territories' key objectives at achieving mandate priorities; coordinate the Government of the Northwest Territories' engagement with the federal government and provide, particularly at the deputy minister and Ministerial levels on mandate priorities, regular reports to Cabinet and standing committees, as required, on effort and results achieved; represent the Government of the Northwest Territories on key files with senior federal officials, for example, discussions regarding new fiscal arrangements with Indigenous peoples; provide strategic advice, intelligence, insight, and information on federal priorities and actions that may affect the Northwest Territories; lead the design and delivery of research, education, and other activities that will increase the awareness and understanding by Canada of the unique context, issues, and opportunities that exist in the Northwest Territories.
I should add that there are still some outstanding issues with regard to devolution and, certainly, when we met with Minister Philpott and Minister Bennett, there will be substantial work involved with working with Aboriginal governments and the federal government, as they look at improving the areas of delivering programs and services; and it's incumbent on us to work with the Indigenous governments to make sure that they are able to access all of the funds that they are entitled to, and that they do not miss out. Also, we'll work with them to enhance their ability and enhance their access to resources. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister please confirm that just one person is being hired for this role? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Premier McLeod.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have departments in this government that have 30 people to cover the range of tasks that are described as the responsibility of this one individual. So can the Minister please tell us, of all those tasks that he just outlined, what the priorities are? What are the top two priorities of the person in this role? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Premier McLeod.
I'd say the top priority would be to represent the Government of the Northwest Territories in key files with senior federal officials, for example, discussions regarding new fiscal relationships with Indigenous people; and lead the development in an updated, strategic, collaborative, and cohesive, all-of-government approach to the Government of the Northwest Territories' relationships with Ottawa, with the aim of advancing the Government of the Northwest Territories' key objectives and achieving mandate priorities, amongst others. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I had the impression that one of the tasks of this office and one that would be very important is to do any problem solving around the flow of money from federal government's infrastructure pot, this $600 million that is coming to the GNWT in the next 10 years. Is this a task that this office is going to undertake and on a priority basis? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I could see this person representing us in different functions, but I would say that infrastructure funding is well managed, well under way, and I do not see any significant issues going forward on infrastructure funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Ms. Green.
