Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m going to commence my discussions with respect to the project listing on page 8-8, the Children First Centre, the early childhood development facility in Inuvik. I do want to go on record that I’ve had substantial dialogue with a number of NGOs throughout the Northwest Territories, spoken at length with some of the Members here, knowing full well that this is precedent setting that we see before us here today. I want to make sure that the people of Range Lake know that I’ve gone through a great deal of investigation, knowing full well that with precedent setting also comes risks and also reward.
That said, it’s hard to look back in the rear-view mirror on something that truly is a great deal of a success story for the people of Inuvik, raising the amount of money that was raised to come to this point and having the balance come forward to the government.
So the first question I have for the Minister is: Because this is precedent setting, is the department looking at creating a new policy with respect to how this government will fund or continue to fund, moving forward, NGOs and infrastructure?