Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is an ongoing issue with the shortfall in municipal funding that is provided through our funding formula to municipal governments of the Northwest Territories. The Minister has indicated that she is looking at fixing some of those. Can we get more details from the Minister on what our municipalities can expect moving forward on closing the gap in municipal funding? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the analysis was done of the shortfall of community governments a number of years ago, every single year, Cabinet has provided extra money towards that. We are hopeful that that will continue.
We are working at the moment with the NWT Association of Communities to finalize the plan, and at this point, we are not yet finished. Right now, what I can say is that every year there has been an increase, and I am hopeful that that will continue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That gap, when we started our term, was $32 million. How much has this government invested in closing that gap? I am looking for a dollar figure, Mr. Speaker.
For this last year, actually, the proposal within the budget is a proposed $1.2 million. I do not know the exact for every year. What I do know is that we have given increases for the operation and maintenance, and we have given increases for the water and sewer. We are working with the federal government for the capital and infrastructure monies that are needed, and we work closely with each community so that they can leverage their monies that they have to actually get the federal infrastructure dollars.
I will remind the Minister that this is the not the federal government's obligation. This is our own funding formula, and the money should be coming from this government, or that funding formula needs to change if this government cannot afford it. We need to figure this out, but if the Minister is right and we are spending $1.2 million, it is going to take 32 years to close this gap. If not a dollar amount, how much time has been dedicated to a plan? Do we have a five-year plan, a 10-year plan, a 20-year plan? How long is it going to take to close this gap?
I am well aware that this is not a federal government issue; this is a territorial issue. Like I said before, we are not finished the strategic plan. We are still working with the Association of Communities to deal with it. I would like to bring attention to, however, in my personal opinion, the territorial government is also underfunded, and that is a federal issue.
I empathize with all of the communities. I would love to have money that I could give to every community and every department. We all need money, but I think we are all well aware that the economy is not very good at this time, and we have to live within our means. We are trying to help community as best as possible, but we also do not have the means.
If the federal government would like to give us more money, then I would be more than willing to accept that funding so that we can not only help the communities but our territorial government departments that are in need also.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Making best use of limited financial resources, in the words of our august Finance Minister, I wonder if we can prioritize this as a mandate commitment. It is a requirement of our funding formula. MACA itself, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has done this analysis. When will this government meet its own requirements that it has established for itself to support our communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are working diligently on trying to address it. I would like to remind everyone that we have, I believe, over 200 mandates that we are trying to address, and not very many of those mandates do not cost money. So if we are trying to address all of those hundreds of mandates, we need a lot more money than we actually have. So I am committed to try to help the communities. I think the communities understand that. We have provided increases with their operating and maintenance and their water and sewer every single year since that study was done; and as the economy turns, as we have the resources, we will support the communities. We care about our communities. They are our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
