Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the area of community governance, in light of the water problems they have had in Fort McPherson, they have had a lot of cost overruns. I am trying to find assistance, especially professional assistance, that this government has in-house. This government has to do more to assist wherever possible, knowing we have resources and people in the department. How accessible are these positions and how often do they go in to assist communities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I alluded to in my statement, we are providing the field staff to be in the communities as readily as they can to help them manage themselves effectively. It is our intention, as the deputy minister stated earlier, to make sure we respond as quickly as we can to the communities' needs. Some may be more critical than others, but the general intent is to make sure we have our expertise at hand for those communities so they may rectify any problems they encounter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When you talk about self-government and these other land claim agreements, in order for communities to develop the capacity to take things on, we have to ensure that we have the systems in place that can assist them and also allow them to grow and take on more responsibility, and as you get more people in there, work them and promote them into the system. Where I see a real problem with the governments in the communities is we have a high turnover at the high levels of the program, where you have financial officers, SAOs and what not. It has a major effect on communities' abilities to govern themselves and for them to not have financial difficulties. I bet 90 percent of the problems you see with municipalities on the financial side has to do with the lack of human resources to make sure the financial books are being accounted and that the SAOs are there to carry out those responsibilities.

I think it is important that this government continues to work with communities to make sure they are able to eventually govern themselves without having to depend on bringing resource people in from the south or elsewhere to fill these positions. What are they doing to improve the human aspect of municipalities, human resources?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased that the Member has asked this question. We do have the School of Community Government that is not only supported by MACA, but a number of other agencies of this government. The Housing Corporation is another contributor to that program, as well as Indian and Northern Affairs. Within that, we do have an SAO training component that is designed to help municipalities better manage themselves. If all else fails, we do provide financial management support to those community governments to help them bridge many of those gaps. Also, I think it is important that we take an educational approach to those and help those communities overcome those difficulties. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we said, with good intentions, the School of Community Government is trying to address all of those training needs. If there is a need to develop further skills in the administration field, I am sure that is one of the areas we will concentrate on. The important thing now is to develop an educational process that the people who are lacking certain skills at the community level have the opportunity to participate in and upgrade those skills.

Yes, from a government perspective, we do have the Cabinet social committee that looks at overall training needs and also funding levels needed to supplement that. I am sure that as we need to continue to communicate between ourselves, we will address that fairly quickly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, that is a good ethical question. In terms of the municipalities themselves, they do govern themselves in terms of setting salary rates under the employment bylaws. We do not interfere with that level of detail. Primarily, we do fund the communities sufficiently to pay their staff equally as well. From my own experience, the municipalities cannot compete with private industry or the private sector because of the salary ranges, but we are trying to make sure the pay levels are compatible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for...(inaudible)...but because it is rather early, it has been a rather contentious issue by the Member, but we will do some analysis on the pay scale to see if they are compatible. If not, we will report back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Nitah.

We are on page 4-21, community governance, budget summary, operations expense, total operations expense, $656,000.

Page 4-25, lands administration, budget summary. Mr. Roland.