Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the swimming pool in Edzo burned down, there was insufficient insurance proceeds to rebuild the swimming pool. Due to newer building standards, the replacement costs, even when limited insurance, was something the community government could not afford. To make this matter worse, the insurance payout was less if you do not rebuild within three years. Therefore, I want to ask the Minister, can the Minister commit to trying to find funds for the Behchoko swimming pool? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The territorial government supplies -- or sorry, funds communities through our community funding. It's up to the communities whether or not they want to utilize some of that funding for things like the pools -- or for, like, pools. However, the government doesn't build pools or operate pools for communities so it's up -- at the end of the day, it's up to the community whether or not they want to use their own revenues or go out to other sources of funding for building such facilities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, with the CPI cutbacks, it's not possible to do that so that's why I asked the Minister. So can the Minister work with other government or charities to fund our swimming pool? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the regional staff have worked with the community governments on their funding and how they can utilize it; however, at this time it's not our responsibility as a government to go out and look for funding for communities for infrastructure like this. If the government is looking for resources and assistance on maybe what funding could be available, I'm sure the department would be willing or working with the community to look for those funding sources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm sure this one he can do. He's got a lot of staff. There's a lot of staff that are out there. Can the Minister commit to supporting community governments in the Tlicho region for writing grants and planning swimming pool projects? There's a lot of staff out there, so I'm asking the Minister if he would commit. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs, unfortunately, does not have a lot of staff. And I know that we do have staff available that could potentially assist with the community, so I think it's best if the community reaches out to the regional superintendent so that maybe resources could be found if we have them available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, the territorial government hired the -- recently like 1,600 employees within the last few years. I'm sure those people can do something. They must be useful for something, to do something for the community. So I'm just asking the Minister in -- or I don't know who, or maybe for finance. But in the supplementary budget, is it possible to divert money for a swimming pool in the Tlicho region? Thank you.
Member from Monfwi, your questions were to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs so I'm going to turn that question to him. Should you have another set of questions, you can reach it out to the finance Minister. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I had all those employees. At the end of the day, I think we have to realize not all these employees are indeterminate full-time employees that are working -- you know, they're term employees. There's relief workers. So at the end of the day, we don't have those employees to assist with the community right now. Any other questions like that, I guess would have to go to the Minister of Finance. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Member from Great Slave.
