Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister for sport, also the Minister of MACA. I had a few questions in my statement. I would like to repeat them here in the hope of getting a positive answer. Does the Minister realize that the multisport games buck stops at his desk? Will he be more receptive to the 55-plus athletes’ request for financial assistance? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish that were true that the buck stops at my desk and I would be able to dole out the money to all those that asked, because we do get a lot of requests for funding. We do try and tend to look after the youth and try and get them out there and take part in a lot of these games. If there is a desire to fund adult games, I am not sure if that is where we want to go to, because the requests will start coming in from other adults.
We are always willing to have a list and see if there are ways that we can support all games. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is, unfortunately, the answer I expected from the Minister. I appreciate that there is a focus on youth, but I have to remind all of us, the Minister particularly, youth become adults, and adults become seniors and elders. We need to keep them active. It has been stated earlier by another Member that active seniors reduce our hospital and medical care costs.
I think the Minister said that he might look into providing funding for seniors if this is something which is going to be ongoing. It has been ongoing for about four or five games now. What will the Minister do to find the $50,000 to help our seniors get to the 2010 55-plus Games? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I said we will have a discussion as to the process of funding adult sports and I will put the adults in with the seniors, because there will be a lot of requests coming from other sporting organizations, other adult sports groups.
If we were to start this, we do have a mandate to focus the multisport games on the youth. I could have a conversation with my Cabinet colleagues and see if there are pots of money available, but I really can’t make a commitment -- I don’t think I did -- that we are going to fund this from the multisport budget. Thank you.
I don’t want to thank the Minister, because I didn’t really like that answer. The Minister said that we do, and I stated as well, we do support multisport games. The Seniors 55-plus Games are a multisport game. There aren’t many adult multisport games. I would encourage the Minister to rethink supporting seniors versus supporting adults, because I don’t think we have adult games. I would like to know from the Minister, considering that these 55-plus Games are a multisport game, will the Minister consider in the future on providing funding through the Sport and Recreation Council to fund it through to Sport North so they can assist the seniors in getting to the games? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t expect to be thanked for an answer that is not what the Members are looking for, but sometimes we have to give those answers whether they are popular or needed or not. If it opens me up for criticism as to the position I am taking focussing on the youth of the Northwest Territories who will become adults, who will become seniors and they will be able to function better and be a better person for going to these games. I am not willing to make a commitment to fund the seniors multisport games out of the multisport game budget, because that mandate is for the youth and that budget is for the youth. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
To the Minister, then, if the Minister won’t change that mandate and it is going to stay focused on youth for funding through the Sport and Recreation Council and lottery proceeds and so on, I would like to know from the Minister whether or not there is any possibility that he will take the lead, canvass four or five different departments and find $5,000 to $10,000 from each of these departments that will assist our seniors. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will have discussions with my colleagues as to if there is anything we can do to support the seniors. We have supported them in the past. I think it is being noted by a lot of the participants from the other jurisdictions across the country that we do look after our seniors pretty good. They were the envy of the games, because a lot of it was financial backing that they got from this government it was noted. A lot of people appreciated that. So I will work with my Cabinet colleagues, and, also, we would like to support regional seniors’ games if that opportunity arises, because we have regions all across the Territories where our seniors from those regions don’t get an opportunity to participate in any kind of games at all. So anything we can do to help folks out there lead a healthy lifestyle is something that we’re always willing to look at. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
