Mr. Speaker, the community of Enterprise will be drastically affected by the new block funding formula. The department has stated that the new formula will make it easier for communities such as Enterprise to do long-term planning.
Mr. Speaker, when a community sees funding reduced over the life of the agreement, the only long-term planning the council can do is to decide what services to cut and what projects to delay.
According to the information I have, under the proposed funding formula, Enterprise will see its core funding reduced by nearly $91,000 by the year 2002-2003. Similar sized communities such as Trout Lake, Nahanni Butte and Jean Marie River will see increases of between nearly $79,000 to Trout Lake to a high of approximately $135,000 in Nahanni Butte over the same period. I ask, Mr. Speaker, where is the fairness in this approach?
The community leaders in Enterprise have been working to improve community infrastructure in order to attract businesses to their community. Projects may have to be deferred because of the funding decreases that will be imposed on Enterprise under the new funding formula.
Mr. Speaker, there is merit to providing block funding to communities such as Enterprise that allows communities to make their own long-term decisions when planning for the future. However, Mr. Speaker, we must also have the flexibility in any funding system to address circumstances communities such as Enterprise present. I will be following up with questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause