It’s started again, Mr. Bromley. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a few comments. I will have some questions later on, but maybe the Minister will answer some of my comments taking them as questions. We’ll see.

In general, in terms of the funding we provide to our community governments, both the O and M funding and the infrastructure funding which the Minister mentions in his comments, there hasn’t been an increase in those contributions. Whether it’s operations and maintenance or whether it’s infrastructure, there hasn’t been an increase for a number of years. It’s my understanding that the department is doing an evaluation of how our community governments are funded. I want to see the report, which hopefully is coming soon and I’m hoping there is going to be an increase. Our communities are struggling with increased costs the way everybody is. As individuals we are and as a territorial government we are. So we can’t expect that they can continue to receive the same amount of funding and be able to provide all the services that we expect them to provide and that their residents expect. So I guess my concern there is when the…(inaudible)…will be done and hopefully that we’re going to have an increase in what we are funding them.

I’m really pleased to see that the public service capacity in the program in conjunction with HR is seemingly successful and that it’s continuing another year. I think it’s addressing a deficit in capacity in our community governments and this is one way I think to try and address that. Certainly, what I hear from communities is that they lack the human resource capacity to do everything that they’re being asked to do. I’m really glad to see that we’re trying to provide the training that people need and we’re also trying to make sure that the mentoring and the backfilling of positions is happening. I echo Mr. Moses’ comment about... I totally lost my thought. I echo his comment, it was a great one.

---Laughter

It was really good. He also mentioned about the funding, $200,000 sunset for ground ambulance. My understanding was that that was training money and there wasn’t a great uptake on it, but I still believe that community governments that are on the highway system are bearing costs to provide emergency services on the highway that they should not have to. They are basically outside their municipal boundaries. They are attending to emergency scenes that are outside their community, and it is a community cost which they are not being reimbursed for. I feel really strongly that we have to put something in place that allows communities to get back the cost of providing services which they are doing on behalf of GNWT.

There is a reference to an accountability framework which is either being developed or has recently come out. I’m glad to see that. I think the Minister said in a statement last week or the week before – and I will want to hear from the Minister what he means by it – something about reporting. I’ll try to find the document over suppertime. I am a little concerned about the fact that we may be requiring communities to report.

A couple of other things. This is a broken record for the Minister and some of the Members of the department, but I still fail to understand why we have as many pots of funding for youth as we do. In looking through the budget this afternoon, we have three pots on one page, we have three pots on another page. Like, oh my, do we really want to administer six different pots of funds? So, you know, please, please, please put them together. Rewrite the criteria so we can still give the money to all the people we need to give it to, but it just seems like a waste of resources, not financial but human resources, in my mind.

I’m glad to see that we’ve got some sort of a solution for the Recreational Leasing Policy. I think the Minister knows I still have concerns about whether or not enough on-the-ground work has been done, but I think there’s been a consensus reached. My understanding is we’ve had discussions with the people who have used the space. Again, I hope that in a year’s time, if we add lots this year, that in a year’s time we do an evaluation of the impact that its had on the various lakes and the people who’ve used them. I hope we do go back to the users and ask them what kind of an impact it’s had on them.

Lastly, there’s no increase in any funding for volunteers. The volunteer contributions have stayed at the same level for the last number of years. This is something that I think we as a government need to put a greater focus on. Volunteers are the backbone of what much of what our people need and provide much of the services and programs, and we do recognize them in terms of awards, but we don’t recognize them financially and give their

organizations the money they need to do a better job. So I would love to see that amount increase.

Other than that, I have nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.