Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain how Municipal and Community Affairs is engaging community governments and Indigenous governments about shared responsibilities and what input they have had on the formula change? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members are aware, the formula funding that has been reviewed previously, and a few times, has been out there for a while. Since September -- August/September to now, MACA's been out engaging with communities through regional superintendents, also reaching out to communities to engage with them in regards to the new formula funding. So we made every effort. We're continuing to make effort to reach out to the communities to speak about the formula funding. In fact, just previously, on Monday, I met with -- myself and the Department of MACA, we met with SAOs and community leadership throughout the territories through virtual. So the department is reaching out to all the communities, and it's been ongoing for a while. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, yes, thank you for the information. Mr. Speaker, I have an issue with this formula. I would like to know what studies were done to show the formula is adequately meeting the needs of small communities? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The point behind this funding is not to run a community fully 100 percent. It is to operate the community's essential services, so your water and sewer, your public works department, you know, and to make sure that the funding is there for those key services. Every community has a right to operate their community the way they want. They can charge fees. They can charge, you know, service fees or recreation fees, that kind of thing. So the whole formula based on their operations is how MACA distributes the funds that we have -- currently have for the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Okay, well it would be nice if they can show us the formula. Can the Minister explain how the department knows or determines what amount of funding is adequate? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm more than happy to -- and actually, I think we're sitting with the committee here soon to explain all this. But it is a pretty detailed formula based on the community's assets. So for an example, if we're calculating the O and M, we're taking the infrastructure, taking the safety and recreation of the community, the administration and the services, and we're calculating it all together to make the formula up. So there is a few steps to it; it's not just one simple step. And that's all based on what the community's needs are to provide those key services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, this is not good. Well, this is not good for small communities, especially, for example, Wekweeti. It's not really comparable to Yellowknife. Wekweeti relies more on funding because of the high cost of living. It's not just Wekweeti; it's other communities. Even the Sahtu region, we've been getting e-mails about the high cost of living and yet it appears they will be getting less. So can the Minister explain whether there is a different funding formula being used to take into account community size, or is this offset somehow? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the formula -- the funding provided for the formula we all know has been not enough for communities, and it's been an ongoing issue and it will continue to be an issue if it's not a priority. So right now what we're doing is we're taking the hundred -- roughly $110 million, we're dividing it, and our goal is to equitably divide it amongst the communities for their assets and their actual needs. And it's not ideal obviously. It would be nice to have 100 percent funding for all the communities, but the reality is we have to find a way that distributes this funding equitably and fairly across the territories to all 33 communities. The problem is in previous formulas, we've had some communities that have been overfunded, some over 100 percent, so essentially providing a lot of money to a community that doesn't necessarily need it. I mean, they all need it, but when you have a larger community or another community that can't operate because they're underfunded, there's a problem. And at some point, this has to be fixed in order for new funds to come in instead of throwing money at a problem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
