Debates of March 14, 2007 (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke to the administration of the sport governing bodies in the Northwest Territories and did some checking, and I know of seven that exist today and a new one is being formed. I’d like to ask the Minister of MACA, why did the department see the need to form another council for sport? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Return To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The whole concept behind forming the NWT Sports and Recreation Council was to try to pull all the organizations under one roof and to set up a funding program that would give everybody a fair share of the dollars as they delivered their own programs. It was also a cost-cutting measure so that the organizations would start to share some of the administration, cut down on the administrative costs and be able to put more dollars towards programming. Mr. Speaker, this has been working quite well. All the organizations are operating under one roof. We plan to put our sports division, sports and youth division, in the same facility so that everybody can have close contact. It would also help improve our delivery of programs, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand Sport North has a board of directors made up of members of some of the territorial sports organizations. Now we have a new sports governing council. I’d like to ask the Minister, what is it that this new governance council will do that Sport North couldn’t do? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Michael McLeod.

Further Return To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are expecting the new Sports and Recreation Council to ensure that all communities have a voice in the decision-making. It was, for the most part, from the smaller communities and from communities that didn’t have TSOs raising concerns over many years that they didn’t have a mechanism for them to talk about sports and recreation. This has changed now and we’re also expecting the Sports and Recreation Council, through this whole system, to streamline decision-making and also to streamline program delivery. We would expect, now that everybody’s working off the same page, that we’ll see more effective use of resources and we reduce money spent on administration. Again, that would result on more money being spent on programs. I guess the bottom line is that this would ensure that the resources that are out there for sports and recreation are spread across the board in a fair and equitable manner that all communities and regions can benefit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know a lot of people who work in the sporting field and they’re all hard workers, but again it seems to me there’s a lot of sport governing bodies. I’d like to ask the Minister, with the formation of the new Sports and Recreation Council will the other governance groups be dissolved and amalgamated into this one big sports council? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Michael McLeod.

Further Return To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re not in a position to tell anybody to dissolve or force them to dissolve. We’ve assured all organizations that they will continue running as they are currently operating. We have set up a board now with the sports council that everybody has a voice, everybody can share in the discussion. There’s a methodology of everybody coming together. We’re hoping that at some point some of the organizations are going to recognize that there is some merit to working under one roof, one umbrella structure. We’re not quite at that stage yet; however, some of that discussion with some of the organizations has already taken place and we’re hoping that will continue. As people become more comfortable working with the Territorial Sports and Recreation Council, I’m sure that we’re going to arrive at that point later down the road. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answers. I said earlier that volunteers are overworked. I’d like to ask the Minister if this Sport and Recreation Council is going to make any effort to ease the administrative burden on volunteers? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Michael McLeod.

Further Return To Question 30-15(6): Administration Of Territorial Sport Organizations

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That has been an issue for some time at the NWT Sports and Recreation Council’s meetings, and it’s been raised by a number of the organizations, and it’s been brought to our attention, and it’s something that we are really concerned about. As I indicated earlier, we are looking at ways that we can ease the administrative burden on all our organizations by either having better reporting or more user-friendly reporting systems, providing some of the additional dollars through some of our new federal programs that we’re hoping we’ll be receiving to provide some resources to help the volunteer organizations to deal with the accounting, deal with some of the administrative responsibilities that they have to carry now. Thank you.