Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a few comments in regard to the MACA budget in general and the Minister’s opening remarks. I want to echo

Mr. Bromley’s comment right off the top about the increase, the 6 percent increase in budget from last year’s main estimates. I say this quite often, our budgets constantly go up, we never seem to get any new revenue and we, at some point, are going to find ourselves very deep in a hole. I expect that a lot of this increase is probably the result or maybe some of it may be the result of the negotiated contracts that were finalized over these last few months, but I think we need to be really careful about how much extra money we throw into our budgets from year to year.

Like Mr. Ramsay, I’m pleased with much of the work that the department is doing. I think they’re managing to sort of focus in on a number of things. Communities should be and I think it is the main focus of the department and that’s a good thing, and youth is also another one, but I am a little concerned. I appreciate the extra money that’s going into youth. I think it’s money well spent, but I am concerned about what seems to be a lack of coordination of the various pots of money that exists for youth. I mentioned this within the confines of another department; we seem to have little bits of money here and there or large bits of money here and there and I really wonder how well they are coordinated. The Justice department, for instance, has just initiated a Not Us! campaign, which is aimed at youth; well, other residents as well, but particularly at youth, and is that being done in conjunction with MACA and all the activities that MACA is undertaking with youth? I just have a general concern there and I will have some specific questions when we get to that section of the budget. I am, like Mr. Ramsay, somewhat concerned about this Youth Development Strategy. I just wonder why we need it, for one thing. Is it going to be a strategy that is going to target all departments within the government? Is it going to involve everything that we are doing in all departments relative to youth? That is the only way where I could see that it would be of benefit, in my mind, unless I don’t understand what this is intended to do.

I am extremely pleased to see that we are piloting programs for after school physical activity. I think that is great. It is certainly something that we need to do to get kids back outdoors and/or just active. Hopefully that is something that will work. I am also very happy to see that we now have funding for multisport games as it is a staple in the budget. It is an ongoing item for funding. The only concern I have is that I don’t believe that it is going to address all multisport games. I believe seniors are still left out in the cold. That is a bit of a problem, from my perspective. I think we need to do, and I believe it was mentioned in the business plan that there was going to be an evaluation with the Sport and Rec Council of our approach to multisport games both within and out of the Territories. I will have some

questions when we get to that section about where we are at with that kind of an evaluation. Was there one done? What are the results?

I also think -- and this echoes Mr. Bromley’s comment, I believe -- that we need to do an evaluation of our participation in the Arctic Winter Games. I think it is very costly. I think the partners in the Arctic Winter Games, the government partners, need to take a bigger interest, I guess, in sort of the size of the games. We need to provide more direction to the Arctic Winter Games International Committee, because the games continually get bigger, which is simply an expense that is passed down on to the various jurisdictions which take part in the games. I think there ought to be some avenue for governments to have some input to the international committee and try to bring that particular program back under a bit of control.

I am interested in the Ground Ambulance and Highway Rescue Program. I have asked about that before. I note in the Minister’s remarks he talks about it being delivered in cooperation with the Department of Health and Social Services. That is good, but I am still concerned that communities which answer the call for ground ambulance services outside of their community boundaries may not be getting paid for the services that they are providing outside of their community boundaries. I will have some questions when we get to that section.

The increase of funding to community governments is absolutely something that I am glad to see. I know, during business plans, there was discussion about a review of the funding formula for communities that was either going to be undertaken or was in the works. I would like to know whether or not this increase in funding is the result of the funding formula review. I would be interested in the results of that review in general.

The Community Capacity Program or the program with HR and MACA to develop community capacity is something which I have spoken to before. I fully support this expense. It is well known that our communities cannot operate if they don’t have adequate staff. It is very difficult to get community government staff, particularly in small communities. I am really pleased to see this program is up and running. I hope to see that after 12 months of this, we will see some very positive results. I will have other specific questions when we get to various sections of the budget, but that is it for now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.