Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as Minister McLeod indicated, communities will not be abandoned. There are opportunities for support under other pots of money, emergency measures money. If there are extraordinary circumstances, then, as the Minister has committed to, the communities will not be left on their own trying to deal with these unplanned extraordinary events. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Krutko.

Again, Mr. Chair, getting back to my original point in regard to unforeseen events, like I mentioned, the shoreline erosion communities, one of the biggest challenges the communities are going to face, especially in the Arctic, is permafrost. We can see what permafrost is doing to communities such as Inuvik in regard to the infrastructure from roads to public buildings. For us, that cost is an unforeseen cost. That cost is not part of the capital expenditure funds that were given to communities. The formula funding does not contemplate what that is and we realize that could be in the billions of dollars. I think for this government to totally not apply it under this situation is...We realize that that is the reality of what’s going to happen in the Arctic. I’d just like

assurance from the government that as part of the planning process, you also realize that you cannot leave that situation to be resolved solely by the communities, and this government has to take the responsibility of ensuring that we do have the ability, as not only government but as communities, to take on this threat that we all live with in regard to global warming, climate change, melting permafrost and, basically, the effect it’s having on public infrastructure, not just highways and airports and government infrastructure but community infrastructure. Thank you.

I just want to reassure the Member and the House that as we move forward with our climate change adaptation plans and mitigation plans, that we will be spending money. Right now it’s not clearly budgeted for. I can point to, for example, the response that we had to undertake with the rotting piles issue as the ground has warmed up and all the piles across the land and the buildings up north required replacement or adjusting or repair, that we came forward through our own budgeting process with money that was built in to accommodate that.

The same is going to happen in these circumstances. As they come to bear, soil erosion or other permafrost-related issues or other totally unanticipated issues, that we, collectively, are going to have to be working out how we’re going to pay for those, trying to anticipate what they’re going to be, how we’re going to respond, and then come up with the money to pay. There is going to be a cost and we are going to be in the lead on this, because this is our responsibility. We will work with communities. The community funding is for the day-to-day running of their operations. They are not in the position, as the Member has indicated, to anticipate what’s going to happen on their own. So collectively we’re going to work on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Next on my list is Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I guess, just looking at the capital funding and the New Deal for MACA, I just want to make some general comments and ask a couple of questions for clarification. I’ve always felt that the smaller communities in the NWT have less infrastructure, less good infrastructure than the larger communities. I understand that a lot of that infrastructure is built up with property taxes and so on that may not be levied as high in small communities and that creates a market, that creates incentives for individuals to ensure that their own properties are of a higher standard to get a better market value. Unfortunately, in small communities there is no market, but I still feel that the government is under some sort of obligation at this time to get some sort of equalization into equalization funding or catch-up funding in some of

the communities that are lagging a little further behind than others, like some that don’t have basic roads and so on. We have communities that don’t have roads even within the communities.

So I think that I understand that we are working towards that by changing the status of some of the communities. My first question for the government is, when a band government, a First Nations government incorporates, does the funding then come to them at a level of hamlet status or settlement status is what the community gets now although they are not getting the transfer at this time, but they are funded at a settlement status, for a lack of not knowing what else to call it? That’s my first question.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Aumond.

Specifically Lutselk’e, are they incorporating to become a hamlet? If they choose to incorporate with the negotiations going on right now between Lutselk’e and MACA, are they incorporating to get hamlet status or settlement status?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Robert C. McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Lutselk’e is forming a development corporation. They are not, as far as I know, making any attempt to become a settlement or a hamlet. They are looking into forming a development corporation so the money could start flowing to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Would that money be equivalent to what a settlement of that size would get or a hamlet of that size?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Aumond.

My question for the department is, should the band government or First Nations government decide not to incorporate if they felt that incorporation at this point would have some impact on the current governance negotiations that is going on between the three governments, First Nations government, federal government and territorial government, and they decided not to incorporate, is there another avenue in which they can still receive the funding whether it be through a contribution agreement where they would be allowed to spend it or would the government, or can the government, come in and do the spending in the community themselves?

Thank you, Mr. Aumond. Next on my list I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Chair, I want to follow up on the line of questions from Mr. Krutko, MLA for Mackenzie Delta, on the extraordinary funding that communities used to have and just hear the exchange between the Ministers and the Member here in terms of the communities that want to understand that some of the unforeseen disasters happen and communities know that MACA will be there for them and there is a clear understanding about funding if something happens. For example, last year the ice breakup in Norman Wells and certainly they appreciated the support from MACA where some discussions happened in terms of how the community was going to be compensated for taking care of this crucial facility for the community. They had worked out some of the arrangements, but some of the circumstances like that, that happened in our communities, we do what we have to do and hopefully the policies will catch up after. You have to get the water plant fixed up and done and then we catch up with the policies and the paperwork after. They were somewhat concerned that they may have to eat the cost; however, through the grace of this department here, they worked out arrangements where the funding could be reimbursed back to the communities.

I guess that’s what I am more focussed on, is a clear understanding that this extraordinary funding was a good initiative and what I am hearing from the Minister of Financem there are other pots of money that could be useful. I hope there is no grey

area in terms of what I am hearing also for municipalities or hamlets to make sure that this is the money for floods and damages of fire. So they know there are no grey areas and they are very clear that they will do what they have to do.

The Aklavik motto is “Never say die.” They do what they have to do to support the community, because this brings up a very important issue for us in the small communities.

I hear what the Ministers are saying. I hope the communities get a clear understanding that when they come to something like that, they know what to do, there is funding in place. I just want to raise that as a comment, maybe a question; that that is clearly communicated to the communities. This extraordinary funding was a good thing, I thought anyhow. I just wanted to make that comment.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Robert C. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is no grey area. The formula funding is flowed to the communities to deal with a lot of infrastructure that is required in communities and the community makes the decision as to how they want to spend the money that’s flowed through them. You can’t budget for unforeseen. It’s impossible to budget for unforeseen. We deal with those as they happen.

There was a situation that the Member was referring to where something happened in his community. The community saw that a need was there and they took care of it right away and, working with MACA, we were able to reimburse them some of that cost, because they needed to get the work done right away and I commend them for that. They took care of the work right away.

So, Mr. Chair, I think the communities are quite confident that if something does happen in their community, that it won’t be expected of them to foot the whole bill. We’d do whatever we can to see what pots of money there is out there that we can access on the community’s behalf.

Mr. Chair, certainly the Minister is correct. It’s very difficult to budget for something that you’re not going to expect. I do recognize that and realize that, however, it’s good to know that something that may happen is part of our contingency budget on any type of infrastructure. I think we also experienced this in Fort Good Hope when we had the floods there, not knowing the extent of the floods and they had to work through different departments, and even the federal government, in terms of emergency on floods in the community.

Just again, I know that sometimes, through the paperwork, through the policies and regulations, that our expectations and sometimes the departments’ expectations are different. So we

have clearer lines of communication. I think this was noted very clearly in the Fort Good Hope flood. There were a lot of good people went the extra mile to make sure that things were taken care of by the departments in this government here, in the community of Fort Good Hope. However, there are sometimes situations where they require more discussions, in terms of funding, what the community is responsible for and how the government can help with some of the reimbursements on some of the bills that they accumulate over the months and weeks. I think that’s what I’m getting at. I hope I’m making myself clear -- I hope I’m doing that -- to show that there is strong communication lines in terms of funding that’s going to be there for the communities when they want it in some of these unforeseen circumstances that may happen in their communities.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Robert C. McLeod. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate the Member’s comments. We are committed, as a government, to working with the communities, through the arrangements. We do have a huge commitment to empowerment and making sure the money flows directly to the communities, recognizing there’s going to be, from time to time, extraordinary or catastrophic situations that require the territorial government to be there, to backstop and to work in collaboration with the communities to sort those issues out, and the commitment is that we’re going to continue to play that role. Thank you.