Mr. Chairman, as the Minister agreed, there was a real deal at the time that the community wanted an additional gym. It couldn’t get it, because they said they didn’t have the money. It wasn’t budgeted for. If you want the stage for the community, you will have to put in an extra $400,000. Thank God the New Deal came in. That was the real deal to give the community: some money.
The community as a whole between the three organizations, the three governments, said: we want to support education for children; the school needs a gymnasium, a proper gymnasium; we will pay for it; we will help with the education. Then the price started to increase in the school in terms of
the construction. Now it is over $20 million, and they are saying: why did we have to throw in the $400,000? I know the situation. That’s what they’re saying, and they are not satisfied, saying: we just likely threw away $400,000. I don’t know if it is true or not, Mr. Minister, but that is what the people are saying. It costs more in terms of the infrastructure.
Somebody got the real deal here, and it wasn’t the school in Tulita. They are asking why did they have $400,000 go to the gym, which cost extra money, millions of costs, to build the school? They appreciate it, but you know what the Minister has said: we got a real deal here. I don’t think so. I think somebody else got a real good deal on this school, but I want to say that this is what they are asking. And I want to ask again. I know that we’ll probably have some further discussions.
We are going to have this opportunity also for Fort Good Hope, and the people of Fort Good Hope appreciate it. The school is falling apart, literally falling apart, the same as with Tulita and many other schools in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Chair, I’ll probably make it more of a common statement. I do not really expect an answer from the Minister. That’s my sense on this, so I would like just to leave it at that. Fort Good Hope is looking forward to their process and looking forward to constructing their school in the hope that they have a good review this fall in terms of the school. But there is something that doesn’t fit really well with people in Tulita. They certainly appreciate the new school. They certainly appreciate coming up with $400,000, because it has put a lot of strain on the community. That’s the way this system works, and that’s the way it happened there. I’m just voicing my concerns from the people in Tulita.