Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to ask questions to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and it’s regarding operations and maintenance funding.
Mr. Speaker, I, like several of my colleagues, have had the benefit of serving on a council for at least one term and understand how important MACA is to the communities and certainly the funding of their operations. Undoubtedly, I know other Members realize that too. One of the problems we’ve always had, I remember from serving on council, is understanding the formula and having an appreciation for the formula that’s distributed to communities. Yellowknife, being one of the largest communities in the Northwest Territories -- the largest, by the way -- there was always the concern of proportional or a respectable fair share of the revenues.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of MACA has given me a briefing note to say that there was going to be a formula update. My question to the MACA Minister is: has there been a new O and M funding formula update done and have you included people from the municipalities on the discussion and development of this formula? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re just in the process of evaluating the O and M funding formula for all the communities. Obviously, with something of this size we would have discussion and we would consult with the NWT Association of Communities. I can assure the Member and all Members that we are reviewing the O and M funding formula as it exists today. Thank you.
I appreciate hearing that from the Minister. Does the Minister have any knowledge as to what level of detail is shared with the communities when you talk to the Association of Municipalities? Do they actually get to see the funding formula or do they just hear about the overtones and the spirit and the intent of what the formula is about and how it’s driven? In essence, do they get into the nuts and bolts of how the formula is developed so they have an appreciation to fair and equitable distribution of that type of money? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we also continue to work with LGA and LGANT. A couple of times a year we will bring a lot of the SAOs into the community. I’m sure they’re all aware of exactly how the funding formula works. I think they review it with them and that way the communities know on what basis they’re funded for their O and M. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that didn’t actually answer the question, although it sure sounded close, as in a good try. But what the question really comes down to is does MACA share the specific formula used in the distribution of O and M funding? Do they share that with the municipalities to ensure that they know exactly how the proportion is spread out throughout the Territory to ensure it’s spread fairly and equitably? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes, we do share all the relevant information, all the information with the communities, because they’re the ones that benefit most from these particular formulas. The answer is yes, we do share all the information with them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is the goal of MACA when they do the development and review of the new formula going forward? What is their goal or effort going to be in the context of developing a reasonable proportion? The example I give is that there’s one community one-fifth of the size of Yellowknife but still gets approximately almost the same amount as Yellowknife. I’m just trying to get a sense of what they’re going to do to work and achieve a fair and equitable balance on the distribution of those types of formulas. As we all know, Yellowknife has a very large population and has a very huge infrastructure deficit that they need to continue to work on.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there are some communities that he may think get close to what Yellowknife gets, but a lot of the tax-based communities have the opportunity to create their own revenue, raise their own revenue and a lot of the non-tax-based communities don’t have that option.
All different areas of the formula funding will be looked at. We try to treat the communities across the Northwest Territories fairly. That’s why we go with a base-plus funding model for a lot of the communities, so you don’t get the smaller communities with, like, 42 people getting $20 when some of the larger communities get a lot more. This is the fairest way and it’s the way we will continue to fund the communities so everybody’s treated fairly.
The formula funding, as I said, we are reviewing it. We talked to the communities. We actually just had a meeting this morning with one community that had some concerns. We talk to the communities, we’ll get their input and then we’ll make some recommendations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
