Mahsi, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chair, our department provides support to the communities to develop their plans. We provide the people to come into the community to develop a plan or use a template to set up an emergency measures plan including all the contact people that have certain responsibilities in case of a disaster. In the event of a disaster, we would provide the information on how our disaster assistance plans work, who to contact, how to contact people, and which agencies cover what type of emergency. If it is search and rescue, it is a different agency. If it is disaster assistance, it is a different agency again.

We provide that. We also provide some of the basic essentials to run an operation centre; maybe some of the communication equipment and things of that nature. We do not provide an inventory of blankets and medication as the Member indicated. Neither do we provide heated storage space. We do have a partner in this whole emergency area, the joint emergency program that is delivered through the federal government. There is the ability to access funds through that program. As I have indicated, that is how we were able to partner up with the Town of Hay River to get their highway emergency vehicles. So there are possibilities, but that is about the extent of where we provide supplies.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When did our priorities change with respect to providing emergency preparedness equipment in terms of blankets? It sounds like you are well prepared for an event in Yellowknife, but, if there was an event in my riding, and it happened early in the evening, and there are 12 hours of daylight, what would the plan say to do then? I know right now there are not enough blankets or emergency supplies or even back-up generator facilities to take care of the community.

I am not too sure how to make it a priority of our government if it is not right now. In terms of that, Mr. Chair, how do we start making the priority? How would we start creating a stockpile of supplies for an emergency? If, indeed, the Minister is saying that it is not their responsibility, then let's start some dialogue. Let's get this addressed because it is a gap that has been addressed. Often, you talk about a gap, but when an event does happen, when somebody is always saying I told you so, then I am hoping that I can mention it now that we don't have to be saying I told you so sometime later on down the line. How do we best address this gap, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chair, I am just checking with our staff here to see when and who would have provided blankets and how far back that would have been. We are not sure if MACA has ever provided that kind of emergency supplies. We are not sure who else would have.

Mr. Chair, we have to recognize, with an emergency, the rules change somewhat. There is an administrator or the mayor becomes the emergency person that is responsible for what happens in the community and how to respond. If there is a need for blankets, he would declare a state of local emergency and he has a number of new authorities that come with that. If there is a need for blankets, he would open a store or whatever the case may be. If there is a need for some supply, he would make that supply available. So we don't have a program that provides blankets. I don't know if we ever had a program that provided blankets or medication. We can certainly look into who would have done that. There are supplies available through some of the federal programs that we work with. There is ability to access some basic stuff to set up an operation centre, but that is about the limit of it. We would be glad to have our emergency person come in and provide a very thorough presentation of all that is required and what is available.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I look forward to his assistance on this matter and researching it further. I am trying to address this gap. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Menicoche. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we are really fortunate in the Northwest Territories. If we look at a map of North America and areas that are affected by natural disasters, there is almost nothing once you get north of 60 in terms of volcanoes, hurricanes, tornados, and things of a volatile nature. We have had things like the flood in Hay River, this past year a flood in Fort Good Hope, but they haven't been that sort of catastrophic magnitude. They have been fairly localized. We had an earthquake that started in Fort Simpson one time and it shook us up in Hay River.

Anyway, but I think it is important on the communication side. I have no doubt there is a plan in place, but sometimes people see things or become aware of things. It is just good for people to know who is to respond and what number you should call in an emergency. I think about a day last summer when I was out and I saw that black cloud coming over Yellowknife. It was the Yellowknife dump that was on fire. I remember thinking, I sure hope somebody is on top of this. I sure hope somebody is in charge of this because it seemed to me that it could have quite a devastating effect on the community. It was just coming up over the dump and setting right down on residential areas. Anybody with a breathing problem, it could have been fairly serious. You

feel like you should do something. What do you do? I don't know. I suppose by the time I saw it, people were responding to it. But I think communication is the best thing so that there is a number that people know that, when something happens or something is just in the beginning stages, people know where to call in. In that instance, I suppose the Yellowknife fire department might have been the number to check with. Myself, I called the Premier on my cell phone, but he didn't answer.

To the issue of communication then, the numbers are just the ones you listed, the four ones or the four twos and that is it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chair, the emergency numbers are listed in the blue pages of the phone book. All the local emergency numbers, including the RCMP, the fire department and our emergency measures or emergency coordinator, are also in the phone book.

Thank you. We are now on page 4-31, activity summary, lands administration, operations expenditure summary, $2.971 million. Agreed?

Thank you, committee. Page 4-33, activity summary, lands administration, grants and contributions, $300,000. Agreed?

Thank you. Page 4-35, activity summary, lands administration, active positions. Any questions?

Page 4-37, activity summary, sport recreation and youth, operations expenditure summary, $2.877 million. Agreed?

Thank you. Page 4-39, activity summary. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note a number of increments here in grants and contributions to various agencies and organizations and some substantial increases here, Mr. Chair. I am assuming, and this is a question that I want to ask, that there is about $1 million worth of new contributions outlined compared to the previous year. Is this a result of the Northern Strategy funding and I believe a decision that was made last summer to hive off $1 million for what I thought was, generally speaking, youth initiatives? Can I confirm? Is that the source of the funding here, Mr. Chair?