Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs’ main estimates for the fiscal year 2012-13.

The department’s main estimates propose an operations expenditure budget of $95.5 million, an increase of $2.1 million or 2 percent from the 2011-12 Main Estimates. The increase consists primarily of $2.5 million in forced growth funding and $647,000 initiatives funding, offset by funding that is sunsetting this fiscal year.

MACA has a broad mandate, focusing on community governments but also providing a range of programs aimed at sport and recreation, youth and volunteers. Of the proposed 2012-13 budget, approximately 77 percent is provided to our key stakeholders: community governments. This includes $45.6 million to provide for community government operation and maintenance costs and $13 million to provide for water and sewer costs. MACA, with input from the NWT Association of Communities and the Local Government Administrators of the NWT, is currently undertaking reviews of both of these funding programs as a part of the New Deal review and the results of this review may result in changes to the budgets in future years.

MACA will also provide community governments with infrastructure acquisition funding of $28 million in 2012-13, comprised entirely of capital formula funding. In addition, the Gas Tax Agreement will provide community governments with funding of $15 million in 2012-13, unchanged from 2011-12.

In support of the 17th Legislative Assembly’s goals,

MACA will provide technical advice and assistance related to the implementation of integrated community sustainability plans in the areas of energy, capital, and human resources. The department will continue to implement the Public Service Capacity Initiative, and will implement an accountability framework to better support reporting requirements for public funding, and to support community governments’ ability to be accountable to their residents. MACA will also complete the Recreational Leasing Policy Framework.

Through programs such as Active After School, Get Active NWT, traditional games tours and participation in the Healthy Choices Framework, MACA will continue to support the 17th Assembly’s

goal of healthy, educated people free from poverty and its priority of supporting the health care system through preventative measures such as physical activity.

Forced growth funding accounts for $2.5 million of the year-over-year increase to MACA’s budget reflected in the 2012-13 Main Estimates. This increase is to provide grants-in-lieu payments to tax-based communities; increased operations and maintenance funding and water and sewer funding due to population growth, cost in fuel and electricity; Property Tax Revenue Grant Program increases based on the amounts collected by the Department of Finance; insurance premiums to designated authority First Nations for the assets transferred by the GNWT to the designated authorities as part of the New Deal initiative; and to provide for northern allowance adjustments arising from the Collective Agreement.

Reported results confirm more communities have accumulated surpluses, and fewer communities

have accumulated deficits. These are strong performance indicators of improved financial management, and community governments should be acknowledged for the improvements they have achieved with the support of MACA staff and through the Public Service Capacity Initiative. MACA continues to support community governments in their capacity building initiatives, and funding first approved in 2010-11 for the public service capacity is again reflected in MACA’s 2012-13 Main Estimates. There has been a great deal of work done on this program over the past year, and the input of our partners from the NWT Association of Communities, the Local Government Administrators of the NWT and the Department of Human Resources has been integral to the program design and implementation. Most of the programs under this initiative are started and the department is currently working to finalize an evaluation framework to use to measure results and to report on the program and its outcomes.

MACA is in the second year of implementing its strategic plan and will continue to report on the progress of implementation on an annual basis. Continued support of community capacity building, management initiatives, youth leadership development and healthy choices are some examples of how MCA is responding to the priorities of the 17th Assembly.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an overview of the department’s 2012-13 Main Estimates. I look forward to discussing them with you in more detail. Thank you, Mr. Chair.