Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just a few points. Some of my points are very similar to my colleague Mr. Menicoche. I have concerns with the street lighting as well. I’m not 100 percent sure if that’s now a community responsibility or a responsibly for the Power Corp. I’m still not 100 percent clear on that. I guess I’d ask the Minister if they could just go back and evaluate the whole area of poles and lights and so on, but the bottom line is to light up some portions of the communities that are in the dark in the wintertime. It is a little hazardous, no doubt about it, when you’re walking around in the dark and there are lots of fast moving snowmobiles and so on out there and four-wheelers. So it’s a concern. Some of the elders that are out exercising and walking have expressed the concern that they are not comfortable in walking on some streets that are completely in the dark. I’m not saying that this is the responsibility of this department necessarily, but I think this department would be a good place for us to start, and if it involves the corporation, that’s kind of outside of our mandates in here and the community, then this department could maybe spearhead something that eventually, at the end of the day, puts some streetlights up in the communities.
The other area of concern, which again I brought up before, is that I realize that the New Deal is going to
be evaluated in another year or so, but I think that certainly consideration should be given to annual increases to the capital. It’s not real common practice to sign an agreement that’s static for five years. It basically says here essentially signing to erode your own budget each year by at least the inflation rate. It’s something that I think that Municipal and Community Affairs, when they’re discussing the evaluation and then what’s going to happen in the next five years, if there’s another five-year deal signed, actually that’s something that certainly should be taken into consideration and something that MACA should be working on with the communities.
Then I have an actual question on the amount of money in the infrastructure contribution to hamlets versus a settlement when the only thing that changes is the name moving from settlement status to hamlet status but it’s the same community. That has occurred in Tu Nedhe twice this year. I think when the municipalities signed on to get hamlet status and the other one incorporated as a hamlet status, there was a thought that there would be more money all the way around, and I think there is, but I’d like to actually know what the formula is. Like, how do they determine it and what the actual increase would be.
My last comment is that when we evaluate after five years we should drop the name “new.” Just call it “The Deal,” because it’s been five years, it’s not new anymore. But that’s it, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.