Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could the Minister indicate if there are any criteria for communities when they reach a certain size? Are they encouraged to become tax-based or is that the option of the community?
Debates of March 1st, 1997
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you, Madam Minister. Mrs. Ballantyne. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ballantyne
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the simple answer is no, it is not tied to population. It is tied more to the amount of development in the community and the potential for a tax base to exist in the community. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Miltenberger.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If there is no criteria, communities that are regional centres have the option? When I look at the list that I have before me, I have a 5.4 percent reduction by community. It is very clear that the non-tax base communities get a larger amount of money from the territorial government directly. I can pick an example out of the list that was provided by the Minister to one of the Members. One that stands out is Tuktoyaktuk receives over a million dollars and Inuvik receives $400,000. If we are talking about empowerment, community government, what is the incentive for people to become tax-based when it seems to me there is a reverse of incentive? Let us throw ourselves into the warm, comforting bosom of the territorial government and they will fund us, rather than having to pay municipal taxes. There seems to be no incentive for communities to become self-sufficient and control their funding and become tax-based because in this area and in educational taxes and property taxes, there is a huge disparity. How do we make that move?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. The honourable Minister, Madame Thompson.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are concerns that have been raised many times by the Infrastructure Committee and by other Members. It is a good question. We are doing municipal financing reviews right now. This is one of the issues which will be dealt with in the municipal financing review. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Miltenberger.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is one of the criteria or objectives of the review to come up with a way to encourage larger centres? If you look at Rankin Inlet, with a fairly strong economy on a comparative basis, they get over a million dollars a year. Is one of the criteria going to be to try to come up with a process that equalizes the resource distribution?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Madam Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The municipal financing review includes a community's ability to pay classification currently in use in our funding formula and this will be considered in the municipal financing review.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As part of this review, will there be criteria developed as well for all communities that receive funding? Will it indicate clearly at what size the community would be eligible for things like curling rinks, arenas, and community halls? It addresses a concern that has been raised by some of the Members that we put an infrastructure in communities that have no way of being able to support the O and M costs. If there is no economic base in a community, can we afford to put in arenas as opposed to upgrading health centres or building schools and that kind of criteria? The concern I have is that we have created a very high level of expectation from all communities as to what they require or should be eligible for, regardless of what their size is. To me, it is simply unaffordable. We have to look at prioritizing. Communities should know that if there are only 200 people, the chances of them getting a full recreational complex are going to be fairly remote. We have to focus on nursing stations and schools, the core services. Will that be part of the review?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Madam Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We already have a capital standards and criteria formula that we use and those have already been addressed in the department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue came up last year about the standards for communities. There were questions raised about $800,000 or so spent in a small community in Minister Antoine's riding. Is there a clear understanding about what you are eligible for as a community? I do not know if that is very clear, because it came up around this table and it was discussed at some length. Have these standards been put in place since last time or have those been in place for some time?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Qujannamiik. Madam Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. These standards and criteria have been in place for some time. I will ask Mr. Vern Christensen to answer the Member in that area. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. The assistant deputy minister, Mr. Christensen.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Christensen
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The standards and criteria have been in place for some time. We did a review of the standards and criteria about two or three years ago, in which we did adjust some of the population criteria related to certain infrastructure. These standards and criteria are well known to communities. The one area that will be subject to review as part of the municipal financing review, will be the issue of the ability to contribute. That has been an area where there has been some concern raised and that is a specific area relating to our standards and criteria that our municipal capital assistance program will be focusing most of our attention on trying to determine a fair way to calculate what should be the contribution the communities are making financially to the projects. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Community development. I have Mr. Picco.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Edward Picco Iqaluit
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and good morning. Mr. Chairman, one of the major concerns that we have had and still have with community empowerment is the liability issue. It has come up over the past couple of weeks in the House. The liability issue is the transfer of the liability from the government to the community in the community empowerment transfer in the agreements. There has been some discussion at different levels with what liabilities have been transferred. I wonder if
the Minister has an update on this, because I understand there are some communities that are looking at this and that it is a concern, especially on the cost associated with the liabilities that are being transferred within the community empowerment context. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you, Mr. Picco. Madam Minister.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Manitok Thompson Aivilik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are still reviewing the questions that were raised by the Members in this House and the department is working on it. There has not been a concern from the communities on this liability issue. The Members have been raising it. We are reviewing it and we will get back to the Member, as I said before. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.