Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to do some repeating here, but I’m not going to apologize for it. I’ll start off with — no surprise — a real need for some added support to the volunteer sector, the non-profit sector. I’ll be asking questions about that and seeking some intelligent short-term responses on that.

I also want to say that “emergency planning coordinator” will come up in my comments, for the same reasons we’ve already heard. In a longer term planning sense I see a major role for MACA in the community-adaptation plans to climate change. I suppose we need to look no further than yesterday’s news when we learned about the loss

of bridges and roads in Pangnirtung, Qikiqtaaluk, and the complete and totally unexpected draining of a lake in the northeast U.S., due to high floods that soon came up and a drainage channel that drained the entire lake. These are things we know are going to happen. I was a little bit disappointed. I haven’t gone through the complete statement again, but I didn’t see much on this at all in the Minister’s statement. I’ll be raising this in the details.

Chipsealing. I want to add my voice to emphasizing the need and the role for Municipal and Community Affairs to be an enabler and a facilitator for helping communities take advantage of nearby infrastructure projects to get some chipsealing done within the communities themselves for the benefits that those bring, especially for small, non-tax-based communities such as N’dilo and Dettah.

I want to also put in a strong word for programs that support our youth, help develop their potential in all ways. I know there’s been some recovery of effort in that direction, and I see this as a good place to invest. I’m sure we’ll be talking about that with the new initiatives.

Under the New Deal I am aware of the community energy plans and capital plans and the integrated community-sustainability planning. I attended some early workshops on that as a representative of Whati and Ecology North. I was disappointed in those processes, in them not connecting the dots between things. I don’t think communities are still very aware of what’s coming down the pipe in terms of things like climate change. Certainly they’re getting tune-ups in the way of energy costs and so on. Again, if we can really get that going and initiate it, I think there are some gains to be had.

I’ll just mention another discomfort I had. I’ve seen many things like this in governments over the years — not just here but in northern North America, where I have had experience — of jumping into something in a big way as opposed to building methodically and gradually. So I’m a little bit nervous.

Again, I’m a little bit uncomfortable with the term “off-loading,” but this transfer or devolution of a massive amount of responsibilities to our small communities, as opposed to a methodical or decade-long program or something…. The core there is the need to develop community capacities. On that, I know it’s a big hit for the Community Development Fund, and I support the ability to do community finances. I know there’s a huge role for community government there, the School of Community Government. I appreciate that, but there are still some major challenges. We can all think of some very specific examples where communities are very challenged. I just want to say I hope there’s a real sensitivity on that. I’m certain

there must be a strategy within the department, but it makes me nervous when I see, at one time, handing over big responsibilities and at the same time cutting back on support for community capacity building. I’ll leave it at that.