Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the argument used by the department and those representatives of communities that are tax-based, saying that we do not pay taxes, is not true then. Taxes are being paid on our behalf as guaranteed in treaties, treaties signed a hundred years ago, in some instances. Yet still, the department uses that excuse to say "We do not collect taxes from you guys, so we are not going to fund you to pave your streets."
If we do have a block funding arrangement, like we do with the City of Yellowknife, we block fund them. They use revenues from taxes to do additional work that this government does not do, like paving the streets. Why can we not use those funds that we get from the federal government in lieu of taxes that are not paid for just that, to do the extraordinary work and not use that fund and put it in general revenues and use that to block fund municipalities and communities run by chief and council, but use it to address the real need of dust control, to create an environment for disabled people, and just improve the optical look of the community, so it does not look like a third world community? Hopefully, we will stop the exodus of people from those communities.
I would like to ask the Minister, would he look at using that funding that the Government of the Northwest Territories receives in lieu of taxes specifically for that purpose? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.