Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we would certainly permit our staff to sit down with the Town of Hay River and provide some models of how they can recalculate their numbers and look at some of the items that are still in the Water and Sewer Subsidy Program budget that should be backed out because of the capital. We have a number of other communities that have to haul water long distances. Fort McPherson, for example, hauls their water 23 kilometres on a daily basis. It is also a challenge for them.
Mr. Speaker, we did take some consideration as to the uniqueness factor when we set up our budgets. It is internal what it costs for fuel in terms of those types of flexible or variable costs for each community, but as to sit down and put all of the numbers back into place that are reduced or increased, that would mean we would go back to our old formula and throw this one out the window.
Mr. Speaker, this one is a new formula that is fair and reflects the actual costs of what each community will sustain. There is a fixed component of actual infrastructure and equipment that is in the community. There is a variable component that is also the calculation of what that community is able to raise in revenue. Mr. Speaker, we think it is fair.
In the case of Hay River, there was an additional pot of money that was in place, but it was built in or supplied
over and above the Water and Sewer Subsidy Program. It was put in place some time ago, and it does not reflect fairness across the board. It is one community that is getting more than what everybody else is getting. We can't qualify that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.