Part of the process is to identify where the changes should be happening with the $150 million we distribute throughout the Northwest Territories, and we should be doing things differently. That’s what we’re focusing on. So, we have been working with the school boards on this particular matter. This is an ongoing document that we’re still working with. As I stated, it will be available this fall, 2015, and it will be ready to be rolled out in 2016-17. Mahsi.

I’d like to ask the Minister, in developing this formula funding for the education authorities, were the actuals in the budgets of our schools and our authorities taken into consideration when we were developing this formula funding so that the schools actually get funding that will offset what they are spending each year?

Have the actuals been taken into consideration when we’re developing this formula funding?

Yes, those discussions have been initiated by both parties, my department and also the school board superintendents. The actuals have been discussed, and not only that but based on the needs of our school operations. So, those are the discussions that we’ve been having with the school boards. So, yes, the actual is part of the discussion that we’ve had. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.I know, as I mentioned and I’ve said in the House before, that the cost of travel and the cost of doing business in the Beaufort-Delta is a lot higher than it is in other regions across the Northwest Territories mainly because of the high costs of travelling between some of the coastal communities and the community of Inuvik, and also the high costs of food. I know in our Education Renewal and Innovation Strategy that we’re developing, we’re putting new food and breakfast programs into place and whether those things are all taken into consideration with the high costs of travel, the high cost of food prices taken into consideration when we are doing this formula funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That’s the very reason why we’re changing the 25-year-old formula contribution framework, and we’re taking all those into factor, and based on the cost of living, the CPI and doing business in those isolated communities, the fly-in/fly-outs. So, yes, all those are on the table for discussion we’ve had, and we’ll continue to make those changes as we move forward. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask the Minister responsible for Sport and Recreation and Youth some questions about track and field that I raised in my Member’s statement earlier today. I noted that, of course, Hay River is hosting the prestigious NWT Track and Field event next week and it’s actually their 25th anniversary, and our children from the

small communities look forward to those track meets. However, my concern, as pointed out by the Grade 6 students, is that back in the smaller communities they don’t have proper practice facilities. In fact, in Fort Simpson they would like to see a new track and field.

I was wondering if the ministry has done any assessment of the smaller communities of how to produce… It would be similar to playground equipment, provide track facilities so that they can practice on the same kind of turf so that they can get the same type of experience as they do when they get to Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

[Microphone turned off] …on that, but I can tell the Member and all the Members that the communities, with their community public infrastructure money and with some changes to the gas tax money, are able to use some of those funds to identify infrastructure. Track would fit the criteria and they’d be able to make the decision to put a track in the community if that was their desire. Thank you.

I’m glad there’s some flexibility as the Minister has said. There are just some new changes to the rules.

What other ways does the ministry support track and field in NWT communities? Thank you very much.

Through a lot of our youth programs that we have with our sporting partners across the Northwest Territories, they run a lot of clinics in the small communities. There are many different types of sporting clinics they have in the communities. Track may be one of them. I would have to confirm that. But there’s a lot of opportunity out there for those in the small communities who have a desire to get somebody in there to help them with some training. The opportunities are there. Thank you.

Much has been said about some extra money for infrastructure. I was wondering if the ministry can consider that moving forward, because I know that, like I said, I

referenced finding some funds to help our schools with playground equipment.

I wonder if we can work towards finding a small pot of additional funds to assist communities in creating track-type facilities as well.

Again, all the money we give for capital infrastructure, we give to the communities and they make the decisions. As well, with the gas tax money. With some of the new Building Canada Plan money, if the project fits and that criteria fits, they would be able to use that too.

As far as identifying any other pots of money, we’ve been able to work very closely with our provincial and territorial colleagues in trying to access any extra monies that might be available. If there are any monies available from the federal government, we’ve become quite good at trying to access some of that money and passing that on to the community. At the end of the day, we’ve always said that the community has the authority to make the decision on infrastructure projects like this and we will support them in any way that we can.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that, like the Minister had said, he has been exposed to other types of funding. Federally, it may even be CanNor, because I know that in the smaller communities you can build small facilities for lower costs just for the same type of track conditions that are in Hay River. But in Fort Simpson we’re talking about a full standard track, and that’s probably a couple hundred thousand dollars. That’s the capacity that they’re asking.

Moving forward, will the Minister help us do a capacity estimate, as it were, to create a new track?

That’s one of the roles that our department plays now, is we work with the communities to help them with technical advice, financial advice if we have ways they can access the funding or use the funding, and any other advice that we can give them. We will work closely with the community.

I can say that I believe it was the community of Fort Smith that just finished a track that they used some of their capital money to build too. I haven’t seen it yet, but I understand it’s a fairly good track. The opportunities are there, and again, the communities will take advantage of those opportunities and we will work very closely with them.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve indicated previously, the Town of Hay River has initiated a public process through a motion in their council on Monday for a public process to renew their franchise, and we, the Power Corporation, are going to submit a bid sometime before the call for proposals closes on July 3, 2015.

I would also point out that the Power Corporation is a Crown corporation owned by every man, woman and child in the Northwest Territories. We, in effect, have about 42,000 shareholders, and about half of those shareholders are Aboriginal, and about over 3,000 of them live in Hay River, and they have expressed a very strong interest to have a public process to see if they can deal with the cost of power, the cost of living. This is not about ATCO. This is about the people of Hay River and the high cost of living that they’re trying to come to grips with.

I was trying to find an answer in that to my question. The issue will be eventually if NTPC is successful, we are going to be talking about taxpayers’ money, and I think we need to come back to the point of the question.

To change things up a bit, I would like to take a moment to ask the Minister about a report, a report that the Minister has been referencing publicly in this House at a recent energy charrette and in media, whereas the Minister has more or less summarized that having one electricity distributor in the North will be more cost effective and can lower rates.

Can the Minister indicate what report he is referencing? Thank you.

This is a public process in Hay River and there is no guarantee that NTPC will be successful. We have to find out who else is going to submit bids. At the end of the day, it is a competitive process because Hay River is looking for the best bid possible because there is a 30 percent differential between

the price of power in Hay River and the neighboring communities of Fort Smith and Fort Resolution.

In regards to reports, there have been a number of reports done, in 2009 and, previous to that, the Robertson Report. As well, we’ve had many discussions, we have had our own Energy Strategy, we’ve had two energy charrettes, we had a power system plan put out by the Power Corporation as well at the time we were contemplating expansion to the transmission grid build-out. Thank you.

Can the Minister of Finance please clarify that this report that he doesn’t want to answer the question to, a report that we know and we have some degree of reassurance that was done in secret by the Cabinet without any knowledge to Ordinary Members and that we assume and are led to believe was done by the same consulting firm InterGroup that is on the payroll of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, the exact organization that the Minister is responsible for and is set to gain from the expropriation of Northlands?

All I am asking is for the Minister to clear the air and set the record straight. Thank you.