Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Madam Speaker, I am going to try it again. My question is not an issue that is discussed in the papers before the committee of the whole. My question to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs is as follows. Madam Speaker, many Members of this House have past experience working with hamlets and municipalities. They well know the budget cycle, preparing budgets for the coming fiscal year in late fall, January and February. The Minister is also aware that budgets are set long before the end of March. Why did the Minister wait until the final week of March to announce the changes to the water and sewer subsidy after municipal budgets were well developed and in place? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The announcement that I, as Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, made, was made after the decision had been made by Cabinet to amend the policy, which was early on in the month of March. According to the policy, the requirement is that 90 days be given to the municipalities before rate changes are made. I made the announcement after the decision had been made by Cabinet to amend the policy. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I understand the announcement was made after the Cabinet decision, but did the Cabinet decision and did his advice not take into account the fact that municipal budgets are now set and fixed? The new fiscal year has started and it would be very disruptive, difficult, inconvenient and time consuming for municipalities to have to re-configure their entire budgets to implement a policy in that same fiscal year. Was that factor not considered in the timing of the implementation of the policy? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I understand the Member's question; however, the amendments to the policy would not necessarily affect the budgets of the municipalities unless they are unable to collect from water and sewage users in their community. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Madam Speaker, the Minister seems to be implying that there is some doubt about whether municipalities could collect from water and sewage users. If there is doubt about that fact, wouldn't the reasonable thing be to announce the proposed changes, provide information to the municipalities and give a much longer lead time for the implementation of that policy so all these questions can be answered and dealt with well in advance of the target date for implementation of the policy? Thank you.

Mr. Patterson, if I heard your question correctly you said, "If there is doubt..." and then proceeded with your question. That appears to be hypothetical. I would like to ask you to rephrase your question to seek the answer you are looking for. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Since the Minister, in his answer to my previous question, has expressed some doubt about whether municipalities will be able to collect from users of water and sewage services, wouldn't it be wiser to take more time to assure that the collection procedures are going to be adequate and to have a longer lead time than announcing the policy at the beginning of the new fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to say we probably did not give proper consultation, as the Members would like to have seen, but I stated in my Minister's statement that municipalities are well

aware of the policy. The inferences in the policy are that the base rate used went up about three or four years ago. The Government of the Northwest Territories has not, up until now, reduced the subsidies to municipalities, nor amended the rates for municipalities in that period of time. Over the past three or four years, the municipalities have enjoyed this policy as it now stands. I think that municipalities were aware of the possibility of an amendment to the policy. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I believe some of the Members of this House are getting instructions from their municipalities that they might have been aware of policy changes, but they certainly weren't prepared for the swiftness with which these changes were announced. I would like to ask the Minister, since he submitted today in the Assembly that the decision was made in early March, why he waited until the last week of March to inform Members of this House and the public? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I should first of all indicate that this decision that was made by Cabinet was a difficult decision. But, I think it is a policy that has not been amended over a number of years. To answer the question the Member has asked, the announcement was not made about the policy amendment due to printing. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Minister of Health, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, that is the document to which I was referring. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.