Mr. Chairman, before we go on, I would respectfully request that I be allowed to change witnesses, if you wouldn't mind, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Voytilla has a Christmas concert to attend this evening and I'd prefer not to keep him from it. I would like to bring in Mr. Alex Dobbins, the Director of Budgeting for FMBS, if that would be acceptable.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Mr. Chairman, the Department of Public Works holds the main lease with Digaa Enterprises Limited for the duration of 20 years, Mr. Chairman.

My final question, Mr. Chairman, is, knowing that other hamlets in other municipalities pay their leases for buildings and other expenses out of their own O and M formula funding, why is this a special case, under not previously authorized funding? I guess my question, Mr. Chairman, is will this become part of the formula funding in the following year, rather than special funding?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct. This will be an ongoing payment to the hamlet. The $84,000 is to provide additional contribution funding to the hamlet of Fort Providence for the lease of hamlet office space. So, the Member is correct, this will be ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I just need clarification, Mr. Chairman. Why aren't other communities given ongoing funding for their office space, rather they are given formula financing under the new hamlet tenancy criteria that was introduced a year ago, under then Minister Patterson. Will this fit in there, so the government will not have to provide ongoing $84,000 funding for that community, while other communities don't get that?

Mr. Chairman, the community office was built on a lease-back basis. The lease is held jointly by the Fort Providence Metis local and Digaa Enterprises, on behalf of the Fort Providence band council. Then the lease comes into effect which, as I said before, is for 20 years between Public Works and Services and Digaa Enterprises. The hamlet of Fort Providence and the Dene Band Council of Fort Providence are also sub-tenants and they make rental payments to Public Works and Services.

So, I think what I'd have to do, Mr. Chairman, is go back and try to apply the formula that the Member is putting before us, see how it works in this kind of instance and then report back to the Member, Mr. Chairman. I agree, it doesn't seem to be done in ways that other hamlets are treated across the territories, because of different ownership. So, I would ask his indulgence while we crunch some numbers, and bring it back for comparison, Mr. Chairman.

Over the years municipalities have had problems collecting taxes, or money in lieu of taxes from the federal government, what is that status now with municipalities?

Mr. Chairman, is this the federal government grant in lieu of taxes? Okay. Well, we are still pursuing the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. We had a little bit of good news, about six weeks ago, which was that John Rayner, who is with Indian Affairs, had taken up our cause and written a letter to the federal department of Public Works. So, at least DIAND is advocating for us, Mr. Chairman. We're still proceeding to say to the federal government that we believe they owe these monies and they should pay them. I think with DIAND on our side, we'll take this some distance yet. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is too bad the Minister of MACA isn't here. But, to my understanding, there is a team of assessors. The Government of the Northwest Territories has a large assessment office in Yellowknife, two assessors in Hay River and I think there is one in the Baffin. But, there is no one north of Yellowknife. I'm just wondering if the department is looking at reallocating or decentralizing a position to the Inuvik region?

It is my understanding that there are about 14 people in the property assessment office in Yellowknife. I'm sure if they were to relocate one it wouldn't have a huge impact on the operations here.