This is page numbers 891 - 942 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

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

Page 916

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

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

Page 916

Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Chairman, the amount that goes toward the debt is $320,000, not $400,000. We are helping them with $320,000. They still have $130,000 deficit that they have to work their way out of, roughly $130,000. In addition to that, there is as I mentioned before, $85,000 that goes toward the expertise and so on to have a debt recovery plan. In our view, this is a reasonable amount of debt for the community to be able to handle without driving them back under again. Again, if we leave it beyond their means, it is not going to resolve the problem. 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

Page 916

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Braden.

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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Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Okay, Mr. Chairman, that helps clarify things a bit more. The community is shouldering $130,000 and this is part of the overall plan. Across the other communities in the Northwest Territories, I guess I would like to find out to what extent say, the Association of Municipalities or other civic input has gone into a monitoring system. Have you got something that has been built, along with the other municipalities, to see if it is indeed something everyone else in the Northwest Territories can work with and that we can have confidence in? 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

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

Page 917

Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Chairman, I am not aware of any additional support besides what the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs provides through the municipalities' association, but I will refer this one again to the Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, if he has any other comment on this. Thanks.

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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Allen.

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

November 14th, 2000

Page 917

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can only add that we have since developed an interim reporting tool that community government administrators can use to report their financial status to both the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and the council on a frequent basis to try to prevent the municipalities from getting into financial trouble. Also, in support of what the Minister has said, we have staffed a community financial services division in headquarters to lend strong financial skills to the recovery plans such as budgeting. We have also developed a financial performance indicator that will assist to identify community governments that are heading towards financial problems, and we have developed better procedures to assist community government that have been identified as having financial problems. I believe since this became a problem, we have developed some guidelines and policies to address the problems for those communities that have experienced financial problems. 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Mr. Braden.

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

Page 917

Bill Braden

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could ask one more question of Minister Allen. He indicated that performance measurement indicators have been drawn up to help monitor this. Will these indicators and subsequent results be something that he could share with the committee? 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Allen.

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

Page 917

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we would prepare something and present it back to the Member. Thanks.

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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Mr. Nitah.

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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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my question deals with the $3.7 million for the Department of Health and Social Services to provide funding for one-time start-up costs and prorated annual operating cost of moving a primary care health services delivery model in Yellowknife.

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

The Chair Paul Delorey

Mr. Nitah, we are going page by page. We are on Municipal and Community Affairs right now on page 6. If you could hold your questions until we come to the Department of Health and Social Services. Do you have any questions on page 6, Mr. Nitah?

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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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. I am wondering about the new revised funding arrangement with the municipalities. I know there are some municipalities that are going to get more funding based on the prorated review and there is going to be some municipalities that are going to lose funding from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. I am wondering if the community of Fort Rae is a community that is expecting to see an increase in their funding level. 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Handley.

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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Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Chairman, the question is outside of this bill. I really do not know the answer. 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Handley. I will remind Members that we stick within the context of this bill. Mr. Nitah.

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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Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the question is quite relevant to the context of this bill. It deals with the question, is there a big enough budget that these communities have to deliver programs and services on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories? When we see in the supplementary budget, $400,000 to bail out communities that are in financial difficulties, then there is a question of, is there enough money going to the communities? I think in that sense it is quite relevant, Mr. Chairman. I repeat my question, is the community of Fort Rae one of the communities that can expect to see an increase or a decrease in the level of funding they are getting? 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

That would probably be better addressed in the business plans for next year. We are dealing strictly with the supplementary appropriation for a short period of time. I would allow the Minister to make any comments if he wishes.

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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Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned earlier, early in the life of this government we heard that the financing of municipalities may be creating some problems, and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has been working on revising municipal financing arrangements. Specifically how much in each community, I do not know right now. That is information I just do not have. 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Those changes I guess are proposed for next year. Mr. Lafferty.

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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Leon Lafferty North Slave

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to ask the question that Mr. Nitah touched on. My question to the Finance Minister is as a result of the deficit here. Why was the deficit there in the first place? Was it because of the funding formula, because of the uniqueness of the two communities, or were they being under-funded and this accumulated over the years? Was this one of the results? 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

Page 917

The Chair

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Handley.