Again, I agree with the approach being taken as stated by the Minister. What progress is being made here? Obviously, I am assuming from the responses, that we have not increased resources to these agencies. There has been no increase by the federal government. Is that the situation? Is there an expectation on when we might expect to see that? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the federal government has not officially responded to the McCrank report yet. We are using, and are continuing to use, every opportunity to press the case more and more for the need for regulatory reform. We are doing a lot of other things to get ready to take over, devolve authorities to us, our planning on water, the planning on our land use framework. Let’s get the regulatory reform done. We tell the federal government that regulatory reform as we are putting it out can be done now. It will move us very clearly down the path towards a more efficient system, provide certainty in the industry. We are doing what we can.

The federal government wants to make a decision. They haven’t decided exactly what decision they are going to make. But we are continuing to push our case at every table we have access to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I would like to follow up on some of the comments he made in his Minister’s statement today. I would like to, first of

all, commend the communities that were involved in the pilot projects, the communities of Fort Liard, Fort McPherson, Fort Good Hope and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. I agree with the Minister that the New Deal is working, but I am still concerned for community capacity related to capital projects and community infrastructure. I would like to ask the Minister, the Minister stated in his remarks that MACA’s role is to support and mentor community governments to take on these responsibilities. I need to ask him how MACA supports communities that struggle to advance their capital program. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When a community has a project that they are working on, they require assistance from MACA. Our regional staff will go into the community at their request and assist them in working out their capital plans and also advising them of funding and anything else, any other help that they might need, then the community would take it from there. We are available from the regional office to assist the communities. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that explanation. I appreciate that the regional staff are there to assist. I am sure they do that on a regular basis, but I am particularly concerned about the lack of human resource capacity to deal with capital projects, specifically the expertise that is required to manage projects and so on. I know that MACA often works with the NWT Association of Communities to address human resource needs at the community level. I know that there is a plan in the works to develop those needs. The technical expertise I don’t think has been addressed. I would like to know if MACA has any plans to fund the NWT Association of Communities for a PY or half a PY to assist communities with their capital projects. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, at this point there is no plan. This is something that we can have that discussion with NWTAC. I do know that the communities that do put forward a lot of projects, there are a few of them that have hired their own expertise. There’s a community that’s hired a consultant and their own project manager to bring the project forward. But we’re willing to have that discussion with NWTAC and we’ll go from there. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister again. If communities hire their own expertise to assist with the project to be a project manager or to provide the technical engineering and architectural and whatever assistance, are those costs undertaken by the community? Are they available to be funded through the community infrastructure contribution

for capital infrastructure or through gas tax and other funds which communities receive? Thank you.

The Member is correct; the communities do have the option of hiring whoever they want to assist with their project, and that funding does come out of the capital money that’s advanced to the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks again, Mr. Speaker. Again I’d like to ask the Minister, with the increase in the number of community-owned buildings and infrastructure that is now coming on stream through the money that communities have, there are associated maintenance costs for these buildings. I’d like to know how MACA plans to assist communities with these extra maintenance costs. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is true that there is more operation and maintenance required. The operation and maintenance budget is reviewed every two years and if adjustments have to be made, they’re made at that time. The last couple of years, recognizing the fact that there is new infrastructure, the O and M budgets have gone up for the communities and they’re well appreciative of that. But it is reviewed every two years and if adjustments need to be made, then they’ll be made then.

We continue to work with the federal government and bring our case for the need for more operation and maintenance along with some of the infrastructure dollars we’re receiving from them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the issue of what are we doing to mitigate the impact of global warming, climate change, we, as a Legislature, have committed to put $60 million into alternative energy to be able to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, to look at expanding wind, biomass, hydro, possibly geothermal, all with an aim towards reducing our greenhouse gasses and doing our share as global citizens and being responsible. When it comes to actual on-the-ground issues, we are spending millions of dollars in communities to deal with things related to permafrost, related to shore erosion in Tuk, communities up in the north that have pilings that have gone rotten that have had to be replaced. We’ve spent extensive amounts of money doing that. We’re looking at converting to more efficient forms of fossil fuels like natural gas. It was done in Inuvik. If there’s a pipeline that goes ahead, there are studies to be able to look at converting communities that are close enough. We are looking at a hydro expansion out at the Taltson to get a line up into the North Slave Geologic Province, and if we do that, we’ll cut our current greenhouse gasses in half. So we at work across the board, trying to do our share and be responsible citizens of this world. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I have to chuckle to myself talking about greenhouse gasses here. Mr. Speaker, it is warming up to a point where we’re actually seeing the communities eroding to a point where they may have to relocate. So I’d like to ask the Minister, does this government have a program to deal with shoreline erosion which is a definite threat from climate change? Do we have a program such as that to shore up our communities so that we can ensure that those communities will be there so we can implement some of the programs the Minister is talking about, instead of having to possibly move our communities.

Mr. Speaker, we are of the opinion, as well, that climate change and the effect of global warming is no laughing matter and that it’s affecting us that live in the North the fastest and the most intensely. But we must also recognize that there are some nature forces that have been going on since the world began: the river valley erosion, the shore erosion. It’s being speeded up and accelerated by global warming. We recognize that. We’re spending millions of dollars to work with communities to deal with the

issues across the North. We’ve taken out some broad government-wide strategies that I think are very responsible to help us deal with that.

So we recognize that issue. Mother Nature is on the move. Some things we can deal with; some things we will have to adapt to. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, someone that drives along the Mackenzie River in the Mackenzie Delta between Aklavik and Fort McPherson can visually see how cabins are falling into the river. The riverbanks are eroding at such a fast rate that the communities are in the same situation.

I don’t think the Minister gets it. This is a serious problem. We have to do something to ensure that we shore up the infrastructure of communities such as Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk. We’ve heard from communities such as Sachs Harbour where they’re seeing the banks on Banks Island. This is a real problem and I don’t think we can slough it off by basically saying, well, we’re going to reduce our greenhouse emissions, because there may not be the infrastructure to emit those greenhouse gases so we don’t do anything about it.

So I’d like to ask the Minister again, what are you doing for communities like Aklavik to ensure that they basically have the security by way of finding ways of shoring up the banks along the river? It is in the centre of the Delta, it is along the shoreline, which basically their shoreline is eroding and it could possibly affect the community to the point where we may have to move that community.

Mr. Speaker, I believe every Member in this House gets it. I think every Northerner gets it when it comes to climate change. We’re not sloughing off anything. We’re spending tens of millions of dollars with communities to deal with their infrastructure issues, the issues and challenges they’re facing from nature. Some things we’ll be able to mitigate, some things we’re going to have to adapt to. In some cases Mother Nature will have the final say. We have to be prepared for that. But we are on this with communities and we all get it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe if the Minister really wants to get it, maybe they can have a program for communities like Aklavik, to ensure that we have a shoreline erosion program that’s there for communities that are along the shoreline of the river systems and in regards to lakes and whatnot. So when we see this erosion taking place, we actually have a program out there that people can access public funds to shore up their communities so that they are in the future. Can the Minister commit to that?

Mr. Speaker, there has been, and continues to be, work done

with our government through MACA, through Public Works, on the issue of shoreline erosion as it affects the community of Aklavik, as it affects the community of Tuk, the federal government is aware of the issue, and we’re going to continue to work with the communities to deal with this issue. As it accelerates, it may require different types of action, but this has been an issue that has been there for hundreds of years. The sad reality is it seems to be intensifying as the climate warms, and the ice melts and the water levels rise. But we are going to continue to be there working with the communities to deal with these issues. Thank you.