[Microphone turned off.] …show that we can compete regardless of where we come from, but again... [English not provided.]
…or even allowing for those out there to achieve high results and be able to perform even at the national level, from what we’ve seen at the Arctic Winter Games, because of something I think that we can build on. We have shown that these people can compete, so I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, are there any programs out there to develop capacity in the communities so that these athletes can continue their participation in the sport that they represent.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are very proud of the fact that during these past Arctic Winter Games, 27 of the 33 communities across the Northwest Territories were represented, and it’s our goal to get the other five communities in so when we go to Whitehorse in 2012 that we will have all 33 communities represented.
We have started the After School Program to try and encourage kids to get into the sport. Some of the money was able to be used for purchasing of equipment. As well, there was the federal money that we had allocated to some of the communities, the recreation infrastructure funding that some of the communities had applied for. We’re continuing to search for alternative funding out there that we could pass on to the communities, because we would like to see the day come when we have more and more athletes from the NWT competing at a national level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister, I know there was a previous program called the Community Trails Program, and I think it was a joint program between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government. So I’d like to ask the Minister, does that program exist and if it does, how much resources are in that program.
Mr. Speaker, I’d have to follow up on that. To my knowledge, I don’t know if the program exists anymore, but I will follow up and get that information and pass it on to the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that these types of programs do develop community capacity, but more importantly, it allows our athletes to be able to train similar to other athletes in the larger centres but train on facilities that are designed for their activity, regardless if it’s cross-country skiing or snowshoeing or even the ability to be able to use that facility for community usage. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, can his department consider looking at some sort of an initiative that allows communities to work on a program that develops Community Trails so that it can be used for recreational purposes.
Mr. Speaker, there is the money that we do pass on to the communities through the gas tax and the community infrastructure money that they’d be able to use for developing trails, if that was one of their priorities. I think we’re starting to see the results of a lot of the money that has been expended towards recreational facilities towards the development of our athletes, and I think the fact that we had 27 communities represented in the Arctic Winter Games goes a long way in showing that the money is being invested and is being used wisely by the communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, I believe there’s a need in our communities also for firebreaks, and I think that’s probably a perfect opportunity for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, working with the Department of the Environment, to use those dollars that are going to be expended to develop firebreaks around communities as, basically, fire protection. So I’d like to ask the Minister, will he consider talking with his colleague from the Department of Environment if there’s such an opportunity for communities to use those dollars to not only develop firebreaks but also use them to develop multi-use trails which could be used as a firebreak and also that can be used for trails and used for ski trails or, basically, snowshoe trails around our communities. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are also some communities that have some trail programs and there are a lot of ski trails from the old TEST Program that they’re starting to groom again. But for the communities that have put together trail programs, I’d commit to the Member that I’ll follow up on some of his requests and get some information as to how they went about doing it and pass that on to the Member. I’ll also have a discussion with any other departments. We look for any opportunity we can to improve the infrastructure in the communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
