Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I want to follow up on my statement. I referred to the Minister’s statement made on Monday of this week. The Minister, in his statement, said, “We will talk to them about their governance role as mandated by the department.” My first question to the Minister is if he could explain to me and to the public and to this House what is meant by that.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Sport and Recreation Council was formed as a result of a review that they had performed in 2005. It was formed out of the Legislative Assembly, and seeing as we mandate our departments, then we can I think fairly say that their mandate is one that is mandated by the Legislative Assembly.
Thank you to the Minister, I think; I’m not sure. I’d like to ask the Minister in terms of the Sport and Recreation Council and the member organizations within that council, that organization – there are five of them – and if we are basically telling them their mandate, have those five member organizations had any opportunity to provide input to the Minister and/or to MACA or SRC with regard to their roles and responsibilities?
We have had some discussions with the five partner organizations. I’ve had an opportunity to meet with all of them. I’ve met with Sport North on a number of occasions and I’ve met with the Sport and Recreation Council. What we’re trying to do is iron out the whole situation here.
Our intent here is to take more of the politics out of the sport and get sport to the front line, on the ground to the people that most need it. I think we’re moving in that direction. We’ve seen a lot of good work done by all the partner organizations and I think in the last Arctic Winter Games in Grande Prairie we saw a good result of it, having 27 of the 33 communities represented at the Arctic Winter Games.
This is a bit of a learning process. There are high administration fees throughout all the partner organizations that we’re trying to bring down and we’re trying to use that money and invest it back into sports. Our intention is to try to streamline the whole process. Everyone has a role to play in the delivery of sport across the Northwest Territories. Whether some accept their roles as others do, that remains to be seen, but we have to get the politics out of sports.
To the Minister, you mentioned you’ve consulted with Sport North. I hope you’ve consulted with the other four member organizations as well. The Minister also stated in his statement that we will outline plans for implementing the SRC’s goals and objectives. I struggle to understand the relationship of the Sport and Recreation Council to MACA and the member organizations to the Sport and Recreation Council to MACA. Can the Minister give me a bit of an explanation?
The Sport and Recreation Council, as I said, was formed out of a review that was done. They’re brand new. They’ve only been in operation since 2005. It’s been within I think the last three years that they’ve taken on the role of being our funding agent to all partner organizations. We see ourselves as supporting MACA.
The other organization likes to say that they’ve been in the business for 35 years and they’ve done a lot of good work in that time. I’m sure 33 years from now the Sport and Rec Council will have that process down to a T, too, but it is early in the process right now.
We see ourselves as supporting the Sport and Rec Council through this situation and then they’d be able to pretty well take care of the rest of it themselves, and I think they’re moving in that direction. I’ve had some positive meetings with them and I think they’re moving in that direction. They’re starting to understand their role and I think they’re going to take it and run with it, and at the end of the day it’s the athletes across the Northwest Territories that are going to benefit from this whole set-up. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I don’t disagree that I think our youth and our athletes in the NWT are going to benefit at the end of it. It’s interesting that the Minister seems to think I’m talking about one organization. But I’m not; I’m talking about all the member organizations of SRC. I guess I am struggling with the paternalistic attitude of MACA that I hear in his statement. Just a comment. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Dolynny.
