Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’ll change the name from New Deal to Good Deal.
But going back to the streetlights, it’s the same thing as I responded to Mr. Menicoche. I mean, there are opportunities where the community can work with the Power Corp, but I take the Member’s point. Maybe we need to sit down with all parties that are affected by this, because it’s a whole ownership issue and that’s something that I think we need to clarify. So I would be willing to commit to the Member that I’ll try to get all the information clarified for him.
When you talk about settlement to hamlet, and even the Member had indicated that there is more money, and he’s absolutely correct. When you go from a settlement to a hamlet, the amount of money you get increases. I’m talking about the increases to the capital budget. I mean, with the overall territorial government capital budget coming down, it’s getting to be awfully difficult, but communities now have received a lot more than they’ve ever received before. I think it’s almost $12 million annually more than they used to receive before the
New Deal. It’s been one that’s worked out well for the communities.
We’re really encouraged by the communities, the projects that they’re doing. If they need a project a year or two down the road, they’re saving up their money, so there are opportunities for that. It is one that’s actually still fairly new, but I think the communities welcome “The Deal,” and once they get all the capacity challenges faced and taken care of, I think this is one that we’re going to see a lot of positive results come out of. There will still continue to be challenges, but MACA will do what it can within the department to assist the communities that continue to have challenges. Thank you.