Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made a statement on the water treatment plant situation in Fort Providence and the problems with the intake line. Of course, the community of Fort Providence, through the hamlet council, has undertaken a study. My question is to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs: what is the department's role in updating the Fort Providence water and sewer system to modern and reliable standards? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The role of Municipal and Community Affairs is to support communities as best as possible. When it comes to water and waste water, we provide annual funding to the communities to develop it. We support them in developing their annual capital planning process. That planning process actually usually guides the communities to develop strategies for long-term projects such as a water treatment plant or big infrastructure projects. Then, once that has gone through that process, we will support the hamlets and communities in actually looking at what federal funding they can access to build their large infrastructure projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Other communities are likely in the same situation where aging infrastructure from the 1970s more than likely served its purpose beyond its years. One common theme that has been suggested to communities is the idea of reservoirs. Can the Minister explain why a water reservoir may be one option for the community?
The purpose of the study from the hamlet conducted was to look at all options to provide clean water to the residents of the community. The reservoir was one of the options that the hamlet reviewed, so it was one of many options that the hamlet could look at. Then it is the process that the hamlet has to decide which of the options provided in that study would best meet the needs of their community.
MACA, of course, provides funding, as the Minister stated, infrastructure funding to community, and, of course, it is based on federal allocations. What priority does aging infrastructure, like the water treatment plant in Fort Providence, receive when considering community infrastructure funding allocations?
Every community has different needs. Every community has different infrastructure needs. Some of them are more up-to-date than others. During their capital planning process, that is the time that each community identifies which of their infrastructure projects are reaching the end of life and which ones we need to support, then, in obtaining federal infrastructure money so that they can meet the infrastructure needs within their individual communities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
