Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be making more thorough general comments when the Minister of MACA is at the witness table. However, I would like to touch on the departmental overview on formula financing, the financial arrangements with the intergovernmental area, especially in light of the new funding formula that the government initiated a couple of years ago with the municipalities.
Right now, the administration of the municipalities is being strained to the utmost because of the inefficiency in overall program delivery from the Government of the Northwest Territories. There were never enough funds before but because the hamlet is being recognized as coordinator of community projects from different departments, this has strained even more the administrative requirements without sufficient funds.
I will give you an example of how a small settlement tries to coordinate government programs. Last year, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment Programs advised us that funding for an apprentice that we had on staff was being eliminated. As we could not afford to keep this person on staff without funding assistance, we issued the person a lay-off notice. Within several days of issuing the lay-off notice, another person from within the same office advised us that they did have another program through which one person could be funded.
This is one small example of many of the pressures that municipalities get from the departments, with no additional funds to coordinate it. I also think the concern to municipalities is employees have requested they be given equal treatment as the Government of the Northwest Territories. These are the hamlet employees. With respect to vacation travel assistance, Coral Harbour follows the old system whereby those going out on the land don't get nearly as much as those who take a flight to a departure point. In Keewatin, it is Winnipeg. A majority of our employees either take on the land assistance or a flight to a destination much closer than Winnipeg. The hamlet cannot afford the additional funds required to move to the new government system without a significant increase in the formula funding. Will there be a review of formula financing, through community transfer initiatives, that would require former government employees who will be moving to become municipal employees must get equal benefits as those currently enjoyed by the territorial government? Is there a move by the territorial government allowing municipal employees to get the same benefits as those government employees? Will there be a renegotiation of the formula financing with municipalities to allow them to do that?