The honourable Minister is taking the question as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a follow up to my statement earlier, I would like to direct my question to the Minister of MACA. Mr. Speaker, the community development division of MACA is tasked with the development of volunteers, and it shows an increase in funding levels of $67,000 compared with last year, according to MACA's main estimates. Can the Minister tell this Assembly what percentage of that funding is being spent on volunteer firefighting recruitment and training?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have the specific details, as it appears to be a very technical question. I will try to get some of that information back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the department states that protecting lives and property of all Northerners is a priority for MACA. I would like to ask the Minister if he could explain how this worthy goal can possibly be a priority of his department when MACA cut budgets for the office of the fire marshal so drastically last year?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will try to respond in a very practical manner here. What we are attempting to do is to increase the budget for emergency measures services, and that will take a bit of time. The other thing I spoke about earlier is that we are trying to put extra money into fire protection services. That will place an emphasis on fire protection, training and also taking an inventory of all the firefighting equipment in the communities, whether it is foam-based or water-based. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask if the Minister would commit to increasing the resources given to the community firefighting services in order to ensure that the mandates of his department can be satisfied?

The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, I am more than prepared, and I have the privilege of meeting once every three months with the department to try to set or re-establish some of the priorities. I will commit to the Member that we will discuss that as part of the overall priorities based on volunteer firefighters and also taking an inventory of the equipment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister clarify his comment on meeting every three months with his department?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of our meeting every three months is to discuss policy and see how we can help improve the quality of service at the community level. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there is a comprehensive review currently being conducted, and hopefully the results will be made available within two to three weeks. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the previous sitting in this House in June of last year, the Minister was kind enough to provide me with a response to my previous questions on this issue. Within his response, the Minister indicated that his department was working on a review of the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act. Could the Minister indicate when this review might be completed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The program is being reviewed as part of the overall seniors' program review. As I said earlier, I would like to hopefully provide the Member with some indication of where the next steps are going to be taken as a result of this review. Hopefully I can provide that in the fairly near future. Thank you.