Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, regarding the Minister's statement that was tabled and that we're discussing right now, I agree with the comments from the Minister and the changes he wants to make. But, the concern I have is the timing of these changes. I recall, Mr. Chairman, that, as the Minister indicated in his statement, this issue was raised by the Association of Municipalities a couple of years ago and it has been an ongoing thing. I recall the issue of tax-based municipalities wanting to get into this policy because the current policy extended only to non-tax-based municipalities. Particularly, the municipality of Fort Simpson really wanted to get into this policy because of the financial difficulties they were having. As the Minister indicated in his statement, I know other municipalities, including Iqaluit and Inuvik, are included in this policy, also.

The changes that are being proposed are a good thing, but the manner in which they are implementing these changes is what I am having concerns with. Mr. Chairman, I have no objections to the changes being proposed by the department. I know they are trying to make this policy equally distributed across the territories, to include tax-based and non-tax-based municipalities, but the timing is definitely wrong.

Another concern I have is with the lack of consultation, although the Minister indicates in his statement that the issue was raised by the Association of Municipalities and a number of municipalities, themselves, about wanting these changes. I agree that they were consulted because they were the ones who initiated this move. But, ongoing consultation didn't occur. If ongoing consultation would have occurred after the decision was made by Cabinet, then I don't think we would have run into this problem. Unfortunately, the consultation hasn't occurred.

I know the Minister indicates that June 1 is the date for implementing the changes to the policy, but I don't think three months is enough time. If the Association of Municipalities would have been consulted on an ongoing basis, I don't think we would have run into this problem. They would have advised their membership accordingly and the municipalities would have been more prepared to accept these changes. This requires changing their by-laws and so forth. The calculations of all the new rates would have to be communicated to the users. The municipalities would have to undertake all this work.

I strongly disagree with the time period being contemplated by the Minister because I think the municipalities require more time to consult with their hamlet council members and with the users at the community level. Each municipality is different and they consult differently. I just wanted to say that I like the changes I see in front of me. They are not drastic changes like I thought they were, Mr. Chairman. Instead of getting a 100 per cent subsidy from the government, it has been changed. They were originally only thinking of 50 per cent, but they changed their mind to a 90 per cent subsidy. I would live with that, but I think that consultation should have occurred as soon as the decision was made by the Cabinet. Unfortunately, the department hasn't communicated this back to the municipalities or even to the Association of Municipalities.

Those are the concerns I have, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to ask the Minister if he could outline the consultation undertaken by his department with the municipalities. From what I understand from the municipalities in my riding and by talking to the executive members of the Association of Municipalities, there has not been ongoing consultation pertaining to the water and sewage services subsidy policy. Mahsi.