Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not long ago the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs distributed a report to Members called "N.W.T. Recreation and Sport Board Recommendations Report". It was dated March 31, 2003. Mr. Speaker, I have taken the opportunity to review the report and I have to say that I do not find in the report convincing arguments for the recommendations. The main one is the creation of a new 13-member board added to the existing five territorial organizations and the numerous individual sports bodies.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that following through with this recommendation will actually mean less money helping to promote sports and recreation in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the recommendations suggest that there will be at least two meetings a year of this new body that will include representatives from all 32 communities and 30 sports organizations. But, Mr. Speaker, the existing sports organizations already spend a lot of money on travel for meetings. If this latest recommendation is implemented, even more is going to be spent on meetings, obviously making less money available to help develop sports and recreation opportunities in the North.
Mr. Speaker, I have not heard the Minister agreeing to put more money into sports and recreation to cover these increased costs. I know there were no extra funds in the budget we passed last session to cover those costs, so there has to be an overall reduction in what would be available to promote and develop sports and recreation in the North.
Mr. Speaker, another area in the recommendations that I am concerned about is accountability. The final recommendations report suggests that the board would be accountable first to the Minister and second to partners and communities. I find this problematic as well. Why have a board if they are told that they are accountable to the Minister first? You might as well have staff do the job. That is like telling a Member of this assembly that we are first accountable to the Premier and to the government. But we are not. We are accountable first to our constituents and that is what gives our comments in this House weight.