Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank the Minister for his opening comments and welcome him and his staff to our proceedings this afternoon. I want to first start off by saying I really have been encouraged with what I've seen come out of MACA. I think the department in general is very responsive to community needs and does a good job at what it's there to do.
I do, however, have some concerns obviously on how the money is being spent and whether or not we have enough in terms of backup on the back end of it to ensure that the money that does flow through to communities does, in fact, get spent in an accountable fashion in the areas where it's supposed to be spent. I think it's important; these are public dollars. I've mentioned this in the past: not all communities are created equally, some need more help than others. It's important if we are looking at formulas that supply a base to all communities and then a percentage after that, obviously all communities are going to get money and some have a better capacity at the community level to ensure that projects are carried out and done accordingly, and others maybe not so much. So I wanted to mention that for the record.
The other thing I wanted to mention, too, and it isn't to pit the smaller communities against the larger communities, but when you look at funding and if you look at the gas tax, MRIF, and now this capital money, the base has been steadily increasing. It went from 1 percent to 1.5 percent and now it's at 2 percent. What that does, Mr. Chairman, is obviously it impacts the larger communities and takes away from dollars that are flowing through to the larger communities. Oftentimes, Mr. Chairman, the larger communities do have certainly the wherewithal to need the money, to use the money effectively and carry out the work. Not to say the smaller communities don't, but they might need some more help especially in the technical side of things. So I wanted to just mention that and I think that's one of the areas that has been a concern of mine.
But other than that, like I said, I think the ministry and the Minister and the deputy are doing an admirable job in looking after the interests of communities. I think we have come a long way even in the three and a half years I've been here, and I look forward to even more in the future. Mahsi.