Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of MACA on gas tax funding and small community funding, as they complement each other in a very meaningful way. These programs truly contribute to the small community economy and leave behind an upgraded image to better beautify the community.
The Northwest Territories has seen over a hundred projects and approximately $68 million from these programs. My question is: what is the information being shared with Sahtu communities as well as other communities from the regional office in preparation to access this funding during the season of? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs actually works quite closely with the municipal governments to access the funding, the infrastructure funding that is provided by the federal government, so we work one-on-one. We help them do their capital planning throughout the year; we identify areas that they might need to build more infrastructure on, and then we actually will sit and help them fill out the applications as needed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As a benchmark of progress and production, will the Minister guarantee the House 10 per cent of the applications that access the program from last year?
I am a bit confused with the question being asked, but I can say that, in the Sahtu area, all the communities except for Colville Lake have actually applied and received confirmation of their funding, and we are working closely with Colville Lake within the Sahtu to actually submit their application, as well.
I wanted to see if we can set a target for production for this year on 10 per cent of the funds accessed by both programs, but that was the previous question. My question now is: is the department holding communitybased workshops to work with the local governments to help design a funding program to support the wishes and projects identified by the respective community?
Yes, as stated previously, the department actually goes in and works with each community to develop a capital infrastructure plan that is used to apply for funding. We don't actually have public meetings on it, but we are available to each community as needed to go in and actually help them fill out their application process.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is that, taking advantage of the low mode of transportation in the Sahtu called the winter roads system, is the department or the regional staff going to the communities currently? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, all of the communities in the Sahtu region have applied and successfully applied for the infrastructure funding. We will be going into Colville Lake within the next two weeks to actually help them with their application. They are the only community in the Sahtu region that hasn't yet applied successfully.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
