Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS municipalities and community governments across the Northwest Territories are inadequately resourced to operate their communities and have been advocating to increase funding levels from the Government of the Northwest Territories for several years;
AND WHEREAS the $5 million increase in community government funding realized in the 19th Assembly does not recognize the increased inflationary costs to communities;
AND WHEREAS communities across the Northwest Territories have been facing emergencies since 2020 through COVID-19, flooding, and wildfires. The Northwest Territories communities are the first line of defense to protect residents and respond to emergencies and communities do this without dedicated resources and funding;
AND WHEREAS the economic multiplier of money spent through municipalities is greater than spending through other levels of government, it is estimated that for every $1 million of municipal activity, there is potential to create 13.11 jobs;
AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories is in a time of fiscal restraint and the Northwest Territories economic outlook is in a slow decline, prioritizing money directly for communities provides an economic stimulus for employment and economic development across the Northwest Territories;
AND WHEREAS in July of 2023, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs updated the policies to address the municipal funding gap, but the implementation of funding associated with those policies is not reflected in the 2024-2025 Budget;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that the Government of the Northwest Territories reallocate internal funding resources without delay to implement the revised municipal funding gap policies;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories balance the current discrepancies between communities regarding the percentage of the formula funding they receive;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories make the calculation of the municipal funding gap, by community, publicly available;
AND FURTHERMORE, the Government of the Northwest Territories acknowledge the increased costs facing communities through public emergencies and natural disasters and allocate a new stream of funding for public safety and emergency preparedness into the municipal funding gap calculations;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the motion. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To kick off debate, I'll keep my comments short. Everything I said in the motion was a collaborative approach from my colleagues. We are united in the context of understanding that we know our communities need more help. Some have not got the funding they've been struggling with despite the challenges they must step up and deal with. At this point, I'll close my comments early, and I'll use my chance at the end of the motion to be much further detailed. But that said, I want to thank my colleagues to date for their insight in getting behind the motion, recognizing how important municipalities are and how we have to find ways to support them, and hopefully this motion does that. So I look forward to the context and the debate today. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very happy to stand in support of this one. I appreciate the Member for Yellowknife Centre bringing it forward. Certainly as a former city councillor, the municipal funding gap is one that's near and dear to my heart. I appreciate the Member taking the time to consider input of various Members, including myself, and just would like to speak to the practicality of this motion, talking about balancing the discrepancy between communities regarding the percentage of formula funding they receive. I think these are things that MACA's been working with NWTAC on for a number of years but we just seem to not get it to the point of getting it done, and so I very much in the interim want to see that balance brought into reality. And then furthermore, that we, you know, ultimately close the gap. And I spoke to the mayor of my community recently about this and she emphasized the importance of it again, is just closing the gap is important, funding our communities is important, you know, ensuring that they have the money that they need for various infrastructure. I know in my community in Yellowknife, we definitely have a building infrastructure deficit, as many communities do, over -- all across Canada, and it's just -- it's a constant struggle, and it's certainly something that I think is worth the GNWT paying its time to and paying attention to and putting money towards. So I do support the motion, and I'll leave my comments at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seconded this motion. I, as my colleagues know, it's something I brought up in this House as well. A former councillor, a former mayor of my town, and someone obviously who works closely with the current Mayor Wood and his council up there, very important that we do bridge this gap and this work get done to ensure that the funding is done equitably throughout the territory. And I won't take any more time than that other than to say full support and thank the Member for Yellowknife Centre for bringing it forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. To the motion. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to stand and support this motion. It's a shame that we continue to have to raise this issue time and time and time and time again. So I'm very much looking forward to this motion being the final motion that we need to raise to fund our communities according to our own formula financing. So if you care about communities, you support this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I will also be supporting this motion. It's well known, and certainly those of us who have been in municipal government, know how deep this cuts when it comes to the impacts on municipalities. But just to give some more perspective on, you know, where the gap -- or the size of the gap that we're dealing with. You know, according to our government's own calculations, so in terms of water and waste funding, on average, communities only get about 52 percent of what they're owed. On average, in terms of operations and maintenance funding, communities get about 74 percent of what they're owed. And in terms of capital, communities get about 77 percent of what they're owed. And certainly, it varies a lot between communities. And just to go over a few examples in terms of those on the lowest end of things, so in terms of water and waste funding, Yellowknife, for example, only gets 20 percent of what it's owed according to the formula, followed by Fort Smith at 31 percent. But it's not just Yellowknife. So in terms of O and M funding, the lowest community is actually Norman Wells at 49 percent. And in terms of capital funding, the lowest paid community is Inuvik only getting 57 percent. So this really is something that affects communities all across the territory, and I hope we make some solid progress in this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. To the motion. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will support this motion as well. In small communities, we can see and feel the funding gaps greatly, especially in small communities where a lot of our infrastructures are deteriorating. Even in my community alone, to replace the water and sewer line will cost about $10 million. We have to apply for outside funding to fix that. So this funding gap will help greatly, especially in small communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. To the motion. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will be supporting the motion. As my colleague from the Monfwi had mentioned, the small communities outside of Norman Wells really are feeling the impacts of its costs, costs, costs. Everything we do in that region is either shipped in during barge, if there is one, and then wait another six months until the big trucks start rolling in. So it's a very costly operating area, and without government we have no industry. Those are just a few of the number of reasons why I'll be supporting this motion. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. To the motion. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in small communities, such as Deninu Kue, it's a tax-based community, and I got four communities that I represent and there's three that are a non-tax-based community. Regardless, Mr. Speaker, you know, we have problems with trying to find the funding gap to fix the problems we're having in small communities. In my community, we have problems with lot development, and we can't build homes if we don't get the money needed to build these lots. And trying to find a way to fix the problem, if we don't fix this problem then we're going to have problems fixing -- meeting the four priorities of this government in the 20th Assembly. So, Mr. Speaker, I'll be supporting this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. To the motion. Member from Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too have sat on council for 15 years, so this has always been a topic in my agenda, and I ran on it with my elections. I'm sure you all are aware of that. But I would like to thank the Members for bringing this motion to the floor today. I agree with the Members on the important role of municipal governments and the importance of funding communities appropriately.
I want to take the moment to share some information on what funding MACA provides. MACA currently provides over $120 million in annual funding through community government funding policies. This funding supports community governments in delivering core municipal services, including administration, recreation, public safety, and public works. An additional $2.5 million will be allocated for operations and maintenance. An additional $1.3 million will be allocated for water, waste, and sewer, pending the approval of the 2024-2025 Main Estimates. I believe that the Members will be pleased to hear that MACA is working towards implementing revised funding allocations as part of the updates of the community government funding policies that were approved in October 2023. The revised calculations will ensure that funding is distributed equitably across the community governments based on core services expected to be available in the communities.
In closing, Mr. Speakers, I want to acknowledge that funding sustainability, sustainable community government services is a shared responsibility of all levels of government. The GNWT remains committed to working in partnership with our community governments and to advocating for more funding from the federal governments in ways that will best serve municipal services' needs and the NWT residents. Cabinet will abstain from this vote for this motion and will prepare a complete response within 120 days as requested.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Hay River South. To the motion. Final closing the discussion, Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I get to the details of my final comments, I want to thank the Member for Boot Lake. He's relentless on this issue. And those of you reading or listening at home or those historians 20 years from now that pay -- combing through Hansard, they heard it here, this Member's been relentless on municipal issues, so certainly by all means. He just every day brings up help Inuvik; we need more stuff. But in all honesty, Mr. Speaker, he is a good Member, and I do appreciate the work and support he's given this initiative. That said, I support all Regular Members on their support. As a matter of fact, I noticed, just by counting heads quickly, most of us have served in one form or another on a band council or a municipal council. I mean, when you hear MLA from Yellowknife North's point, I mean, that's a struggle they faced every day when I served on council. And I'm glad she highlighted half the discrepancies. And that's part of the reason the motion is here.
Mr. Speaker, it doesn't -- you know, the challenge municipalities are facing under inflationary costs or not being appreciated. I mean, the fact is that, you know, this is about just balancing and bringing fairness throughout.
Just in short, Mr. Speaker, $52 million, we all know is the current gap. I mean, no one's asking for the absolute cheque to be written, but we would certainly know that our communities would welcome the finance Minister to show up with her credit card to find a way to deal with that outstanding balance, if I may say.
She also noted in her budget speech -- and just for those reading along, page 4 in case anyone was interested -- it said they have a $294 million projected surplus. So there must be some room to help communities like Tu Nedhe in the Tu Nedhe riding or the Deh Cho riding when they see Enterprise struggle. So, Mr. Speaker, there are reasonable requests out there, people are looking for help.
Mr. Speaker, as we move forward on this particular thing, you know, I call upon the Honourable Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs, you know, help us help you fulfill that election promise. Help us by voting for this motion, and feel free to be brave. And as I said in my Member's statement earlier today, the fear of doing change, I support the Minister to stand up and vote with us, Mr. Speaker, because I know he can do it.
So, Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to, again, thank all my colleagues. And I will ask for a recorded vote on this particular initiative. And I look forward to the government's detailed response with a simple word, yes. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. To the motion.
Question.
