Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Executive and the Premier. For the Standing Committee on Government Operations, we’ve heard from many Members today, and the NGO Stabilization Fund has been a priority for that committee, and the committee has corresponded with the Minister over the last year several times about the NGO Stabilization Fund. We’ve provided input and we’ve been dismayed to be told by the Minister that a review of the fund found no reason to make any changes to the criteria. Unfortunately, that view is supported by the Social Envelope Committee of Cabinet as well.
There were some changes, though, that were made about a year ago. In my view, they were all administrative, non-substantive and process oriented. They clarified things and sped up the awarding of funds, but nothing more than that.
My question to the Minister is if he could explain to this House what those changes were that were made to the NGO Stabilization Fund. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The changes that we made were we clarified who was eligible to apply. We were getting all kinds of applications from organizations and groups that were applying that didn’t provide any services to the Government of the Northwest Territories. We also tightened up the program so that we could get the request for applications out soon and that we would process the applications on a timely basis and flow the money out promptly.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. I have to agree that those changes were positive. They definitely allowed the staff to process applications much faster than the previous year, and awards came within months of the start of the fiscal year, not near the end of the fiscal year as was happening previously.
In spite of this large improvement, I’d like to know from the Minister what the rationale is for the criteria within the NGO Stabilization Fund which puts new projects above projects from a previous year. I have to ask the Minister how that helps to stabilize an organization.
I think the answer speaks for itself. It’s a stabilization fund. It’s to help organizations that provide essential services to the Government of the Northwest Territories. It’s to help them to provide more structure and improve their capacity. It’s not continuous core funding. I would expect that over a period of time these organizations would develop capacity that they can function without additional funding from the NGO Stabilization Fund.
I guess I can’t agree with the Minister’s assessment of that. Giving an organization money in one year and then pulling it in the next year because we funded you for that project, now we’re only going to fund a new project, in my mind, is destabilizing, not stabilizing.
We have a $1.6 billion budget within this government, and a twofold increase doubling the value of the NGO Stabilization Fund amounts to a 0.02 percent increase to our expenditures bottom line.
I’d like to ask the Premier if he could provide a rationale for the rejection by the Cabinet, by the Minister, his rejection of the committee’s request for an increase to the dollars in the NGO Stabilization Fund.
I think that request seems very simplistic, and if you multiply that a thousand-fold, we still wouldn’t have enough money. I think we have to be focused.
I also talked about the third-party accountability framework. The NGO Stabilization Fund is just a top-up. There are three categories of NGO funding that are provided for by all departments. That’s what the framework is for, is to categorize the level of reporting for the funding that is received by NGOs. Not all NGOs provide essential services to the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Premier, I understand that Cabinet and the government sees this as a top-up, but it’s obvious that the NGOs need more funding. A request for over a million dollars from all NGOs who applied last year is certainly an indication that $350,000 is not enough.
The Premier has heard many suggestions and ideas here today, and I believe would hear a great many suggestions on how to change the criteria for this fund from NGOs and for making improvements to the fund.
I’d like to ask the Premier and the Minister of the Executive if he will commit to a thorough consultative review of the NGO stabilization policy prior to the end of this fiscal year.
We do have a process and we have a main estimates process, and I also listed off a number of strategies and frameworks that will affect the social programs and NGOs. As we go forward, we have finite resources. We will develop action plans for all those strategies, and as part of that, this request will be part of that mix.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
