Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I think I’ve raised this matter on water treatment plants in the House on numerous occasions. A particular highlight is in Kakisa. Because they don’t have a water treatment plant, people have to schedule their lives around water delivery and perhaps it sometimes could be delivered today, and so people have to make due with perhaps a 250 gallon tank that could last until Friday. Other examples are recently ITI had invested with the community a fish plant, and it was noted that the operations would probably be contingent on a water supply.
With those in mind, what are the barriers to establishing a local water treatment plant in Kakisa? If I could pose that to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no barriers to establishing a water treatment plant in Kakisa. I noticed on their five-year capital plan they have identified some funding to go towards a water treatment plant. Again, we can work with the community. I’m not sure if their capital plan has changed, but we can work with the community and see what some of their priorities are and how we can make it happen.
My question, again, is what are the obstacles of setting in place a local water treatment plant in Enterprise?
Again, I don’t see very many obstacles. Both communities are funded. We give them capital allocation and they can use that money towards a water treatment plant. As well, the gas tax money that the community has received, they can use that towards the construction of a water treatment plant. We’ve seen it in a number of cases in the past where communities have done a bundled project and got good value for the dollar, including water treatment plants in a number of communities at the same time. Again, there is another opportunity for our officials to meet with the community. Again, they have to identify as a priority and ask us to come in and have some discussions with them. We will work with them to see how they could make the water treatment plants happen.
I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. It is clear that the Minister has indicated over time that the local responsibility lies on the local leadership and they have the capacity of funding and also, at the same time, there are no obstacles, so does the Minister agree that over the long term, local water treatment plants would be the best option for these two communities especially when the wood pellet plant and campgrounds are fully developed?
The Member has pointed out quite well the benefits that will be in these two communities should they establish their own water treatment plant. Again, I say that our staff over at MACA are more than willing to meet with the community. As with a number of our programs that we do offer through the communities, the onus is on the community to make the decision to establish a water treatment plant – they have the authority – then our department will work closely with them to see how we can assist them in making these water treatment plants a reality.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems again clear that the Minister is indicating that the onus is on the local leadership. They have the capacity.
Could the Minister commit to meet the communities halfway and be willing to work with both communities to identify viable options and next steps within the 2014-15 fiscal year? As one example, perhaps you could initiate the advance towards a planning study. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, we will wait for the community to take the initiative. They know what their priorities are a lot better than we do. When the money was initially allocated to all the communities, they knew what their infrastructure needs were a lot better than we did, so communities have done quite well in that. We expect if the communities of Kakisa and Enterprise want to start the discussion on a water treatment plant, they will let us know and we’ll be there to start the discussion with them. We can provide them a lot of advice, technical advice and financing options. We’re more than willing to meet with the communities, again, at the invitation of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Bouchard.
