Thank you. Madam Ballantyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman perhaps it would be helpful if I could just explain the approach that is being taken with communities. We are really discouraging any of the departments to go out and flog their programs. That is not what community empowerment is about. We are taking a developmental approach with communities whereby we want them to think about what kind of community to have in the future. We do that through the community-based planning process. Through that process, communities identify what is working and not working in their community in the views of the residents. If the community identifies it would be of benefit to them to have more control, management over a certain function that is currently being dealt with by the GNWT, then we facilitate discussions between that department and the community on how that could be achieved. Transfer is not the only way. Sometimes just an improved community participation in a process is sufficient to give the community a sense that they are controlling what is happening in that area. So just to correct the perception that any of the departments are going out, asking communities if they would like to take on this or that, that is not what the approach is all about. It is very much based on communities coming up with a plan for their future that reflects their needs and their priorities and the government working with the communities to help realize that. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we said time and time again, it is pretty hard to argue against community

empowerment. It is a motherhood and apple pie issue. Just as an example, if the community of Tough Luck Bay takes over O and M on the school, but for whatever reason fails to keep the boiler on in that school and the school freezes up, would it be very difficult for the MLA for Tough Luck Bay to go criticize the mayor of the council because what the town has done with leaving the boilers off and freezing up the school. However, if DPW was still doing the O and M of that school, the MLA could have gone to the Minister of DPW and said look the school went off, let us fix it, let us get it done now. I am just trying to show you that community empowerment could be an initiative that could take away the power at the central level. I am not saying the power of an MLA or government, but I am just trying to use an example of how you would illustrate this. So I would like to ask MACA and the Minister if they have looked at that scenario, for example?

Qujannamiik. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have a lot of confidence in the people in the communities. The parents and community councils are also worried about the schools, if the boilers are being turned off or schools freezing. It seems like the Member thinks that the MLAs are also worried about the nitty gritty little things in the community, because the community might not be aware of the school freezing. We have a lot of confidence in the community people. I know the Member is concerned about the schools freezing and other facilities that stop functioning. We should place more confidence on the people in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was just using the school as an example, I could have said a nursing station, I could have said a toilet had backed up in the washroom. It did not matter. I was just trying to use it as a point of analogy. I also live in a community. I am also a parent. I do have children. I have a wife. So I am not distanced from that. I do not live here in the Legislative Assembly, although I spend most of my time here. So just as a follow up to that, Mr. Chairman, if the Minister and the department could for the record, say that in actuality, there is no list of what is not on the table, everything is on the table or if it is just what is brought forward by the community. How do you ascertain, what the community can do, for community empowerment? For example, if the Department of Education goes into a community and the community says we want to take over the school. Will that go forward then? There is actually no pre-condition on what can be assumed under community transfers?

Qujannamiik. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to ask my deputy minister to answer the details on the concern of the Member. I was not aware that he was also concerned with the flushing of the toilets in the communities. Anyway, I will give my deputy minister a chance to clarify his question.

Thank you. The chair allows Members to use examples to make their point. Madam Ballantyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to emphasize again that we have deliberately gone out with a list to communities to say please consider taking over all of these things that the GNWT currently does? We are trying to work with the communities through the developmental process where they identify areas of concern. They identify their priorities, the things they are interested in working in. Often this will relate to social conditions in the community, things going on in the community that the community is interested in.

We do not have a list of programs, saying please take the airport, please take the school. That is not what this is about. It is very much about working with communities in the areas of their interest, their priorities, the things they think are most important and then seeing if there is a way to facilitate a transfer of resources from the GNWT that can be managed by the community in a way that allows them to address issues at a local level, in a way more sensitive to local issues and needs that we can address as a territorial government. That does not mean we give away territorial responsibilities. We do not. Where there is a need for standards to be met, then that is built right in. So we have tried to take a different approach and really not tried to focus so much on the transfer aspect as on the community development aspect and on the training, the building of human capacity in communities so that communities are better able to manage what they have. Thank you.

Thank you. Community development. I have Mr. Steen and Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Madame Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. MACA does not have the responsibility for airports. Transportation has the responsibility of transferring that to the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I stated before and also in my previous comments this week, I said the region of Keewatin was interested in the transfer of airports. These airports will be transferred to the communities as of April 1st. At the regional leadership meetings, the mayor initiated this discussion and wanted to have a regional transfer of airports to their communities. This was initiated by the leaders of the region. The Department of Transportation is the one who is transferring the airports to the communities by the request of the leaders. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to have my deputy minister to answer that question. We do not have all the details on the airport transfers previously asked. I will have my deputy minister answer the question by the Member. Thank you.