Thank you. Deputy Minister Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As far as I know right now, yes, they are all on track. In cases where we have had issues in the past, we have been able to work with Canada to either find an alternate project or an extension to the project so that the communities do not lose the money, wherever possible, or find an alternate program for them to apply to so that we make sure the communities can finish their projects. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get an understanding, perhaps first a clarification? I believe these numbers might be slightly misleading in that there is a $19-million budget of last year and $18 million this year, but is that actually what was spent? Will that be the actuals, or can I just get a sense of this number? Is that what we are budgeting that then, if approved, we would hand out, become an actual, or have we actually been spending $20 million last year and expecting to next year? Sorry. I am trying to rephrase that properly. Are we going to spend $18 million this year on this fund? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of MACA.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is correct.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a sense of how this affects the municipal funding formula? If there is essentially $18 million in our budget that is granted, that we are passing through from the federal government and then that expires in 2022, does that mean our funding formula will decrease by $18 million? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have Deputy Minister Young respond. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair. All of the programs that are listed in this section of the budget, this is strictly federal funding. It is separate from the capital budget approved through the Assembly for what we call community public infrastructure funding. Most of these programs, with the exception of the gas tax program, require a 75-25 cost share, so they use the CPI funding they get from the GNWT as the leveraging dollars for the federal component. The exception is gas tax, where they can use 100 percent federal funding to fund the project. With the exception of gas tax, each of the projects has to be approved by Canada before the funding can proceed, so these are all based on a federal cash flow of approved projects. That's how this is laid out in the budget. We have a total amount that we distribute over 10 years and lay out the budget that way, but this is just the federal component of that. It doesn't reflect the GNWT component, if that's clear as mud. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand that, in our capital budget, there is a relatively fixed amount that goes to the communities every year and that's based on the funding formula, but from what I'm hearing, then, if $18 million disappears over a budget, it doesn't actually affect the funding formula, given that it's federal money. Can I just get a clarification if that's correct? Essentially, with the exception of the gas tax, federal infrastructure money does not then feed into the need assessment that we make for municipal infrastructure. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of MACA.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to confuse my colleague. Yes, that is correct. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Any further questions? Last quick question, Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As part of the work of reviewing the funding formula, are there any plans to factor in how federal government money works? To me, if the federal government decides to spend a bunch of money on giving communities infrastructure, that should affect the funding formula. Or if Yellowknife gets a bunch of money to build a new pool, that should probably adjust the funding formula. I get there is a bit of a debate of whether you adjust a needs-based formula on one-off projects, but is there any work intended to adjust the formula based on the role of the federal funding I see here, which is $42 million a year? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have Deputy Minister Young reply. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy Minister Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we are trying to figure out how to best calculate that and accommodate it in, for many of the reasons the Member mentions, when we do our capital policy review in about two years' time, a year and a half's time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm looking at page 357, the multisport games. In 2020-2021, there was $650,000, and I presume that that was for Arctic Winter Games, which was cancelled. Does that money carry over, or what happens to it? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of MACA.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With that $650,000 that was set aside, if that was for the Arctic Winter Games, I cannot find it on here very quickly, but then we did have to dismantle the games. We did have to send employees over there to take part in taking the games down and also returning people back to their home communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Why would we expend the $650,000 in 2019-2020, which probably was the year, then, that Arctic Winter Games were held? Can someone explain to me why these figures are flat when, last year, the one in Whitehorse was cancelled? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have Mr. Gary Schauerte respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Schauerte.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The department received $1.3 million over two fiscal years, so the $650,000 is half of that, that was contributed in 2019-2020, that goes into this fund. The fund is a restricted fund for the purposes of the sport, recreation, and physical activity programs defined by the act, so the money continues over. We did, absolutely, have impacts to our games programming as a result of COVID, with the cancellation of the Arctic Winter Games in 2020. There are currently discussions under way, both with the Arctic Winter Games and with other multisport games or major events like that, where there are decisions being made in the future about whether those games can be held or can they be deferred. What is going to happen as a result of COVID is we could see some crushing of programming with multisport games, either with the Arctic Winter Games or Canada Games or other. While the money does stay within the fund, we expect in the coming years that there will be pressure on the games program area because of the result of the schedule and the changes to that. At this point, we are still recovering from the pandemic and no clear decisions have been made about games, including the Arctic Winter Games in 2022, so it's kind of a bit of a "plan around some of these decisions when they happen" scenario. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Schauerte. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. It sounds like the money is still there available for multisport games. Is that correct? It's just not going to get expended, and no expenditures are anticipated in 2021-2022? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have Mr. Gary Schauerte respond. Thank you.
Mr. Schauerte.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There are, absolutely, expenditures out of the fund in 2021-2022. A little over $5.8 million is planned to be disbursed out of the fund. Some of that is grants and contributions money that will go to some of the organizations that organized Team NWT that will attend these events. The number right there is $5.2 million for grants and contributions. We're not quite into April 1, yet, where we'll be disbursing funds to organizations, and we wouldn't make any allocations around games funding until we have an idea of where we're going with that program. Notionally, $5.2 million is identified for contributions out of this fund. We'll have to wait and see exactly how much does get disbursed, based on programming that comes forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I was talking about a different line item, but I think I have a better appreciation for it now. I'm just curious, though. There was an annual report for the Western Canada Lottery Fund that I think was tabled in the House by the Minister on November 5th, and there is just one line item here about revenues. Why is there no sort of page in here that discusses money in, money out for the Western Canada Lottery program? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have Mr. Gary Schauerte answer the question.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Schauerte.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I apologize if I'd added to the confusion, there. I was looking at the physical activity, sport, and recreation fund. I thought that's where the Member's questions were originating from, but I understand that he was looking at the sport, recreation, and youth activity. It is the fund where we will be disbursing money from the Western Canada Lottery program, and that is detailed in that physical activity item. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Schauerte. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, okay. I see that the physical activity, sport, and recreation fund, that is the lottery money in and out. Somehow, I'm trying to reconcile that against the annual report financial statements, which are the most complicated I think I've ever seen in my life, almost. These financial reports from the annual report are somehow represented here on page 360? Is that correct? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of MACA.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have Mr. Gary Schauerte explain.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Schauerte.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The annual report that we tabled in the House this past year represented the activity for 2019-2020, which theoretically should line up with the numbers that are presented here in this physical activity fund. Thank you, Madam Chair.
