Thank you, Mr. Chair. I take the Member's point. I mean, there's a discussion that we should sit down with committee and get some input from committee as to what some of their recommendations are. If there's a design of the program issue then we'll have to address that. This is an issue that's been on people's radars for a while so I think it would be prudent of us to sit down with committee, get some feedback and go away and maybe come back with a redesigned program working with committee. But I will commit to that process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly. Nothing further from Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple of questions on ground transportation or ambulance. As you know, Fort McPherson did receive some funds a year or two ago. You know, that's a long stretch of highway there, it's about 140 kilometres, I guess, that the community has towards the NWT-Yukon border and towards Tsiigehtchic to sort of respond to, you know, when we have had some accidents there. Same as Tsiigehtchic, I know they have the first responders there, but there's always more training needed, especially for Tsiigehtchic because we have no nurse and no RCMP there. So people in the community are the first on the scene pretty much all the time, and a lot more training needs to be done. Also expenses, it seems the community takes the grunt of the expenses all the time. I'd just like to know by region, how is this money divided and it would be nice to see some more funding to that area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Tsiigehtchic was actually one of the communities where we did provide some first responder training. The thing with people in the Northwest Territories is somebody is going to respond all the time and they're not going to worry about where the money is coming from, they will just respond. Our challenge is to ensure that our communities are adequately trained and have the proper equipment to respond. The biggest challenge is dollars. As we continue to go through this process then we can identify some of our bigger challenges and then as the financial situation improves we can work to address some of the challenges.

During the formula funding review this issue was discussed, and it wasn't included as a core program, but, I mean, we're starting to recognize now that it's an issue that we need to address because we're hearing it not only from the southern part of the territory but from the northern part as well. I mean, I have committed to working with committee to look at how we can maybe redesign the program or -- well, we would like to enhance the funding but I'm sure that will happen once we're in a position to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it would be nice to increase these funds. I see it actually went down from $400,000 to $185,000. You know it's a shame because, like I said, we need more funding because, you know, a lot of the highways we have many accidents and we need to help support the communities to be first on the scene and take care of our residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Would the Minister like to respond?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the funding was a reduction because the program wasn't fully subscribed to. We also recognize that this is an issue that we have to address. We will do our work and then if we can enhance this program we will come back to this Chamber to seek more funds once we're in a position to do so. We would like to assist the communities and I think the best way to assist the communities is to ensure that we have people in the communities that are able to be first responders, especially if they get on the scene right away. This is a program that we have been hearing about a lot and it's one that we recognize that we need to do more with. We're getting more people travelling on the roads and there was even some talk of winter roads, travelling on winter roads as such. MACA will ensure we do our part. I look forward to working with committee and getting feedback from committee as to how we can enhance and improve the program; enhance, improve and encourage people to take the training. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just my final question. I know you said funding is not fully subscribed here, you know, if the community of Tsiigehtchic, for example, would put in a proposal for ambulance-type vehicle -- because many times, you know, when we have a serious accident, when a person is in a stretcher many times we have to put them in the back of a truck, so it's really important to have the proper equipment. Would that meet the criteria? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Would the Minister like to respond?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the community can apply to get an ambulance out of their CPI funding that we provide to them, as well as trying to access some of this funding. Again, the challenge is, as I mentioned before, we had a community who bought an ambulance and realized that they didn't have the training and there was a liability issue so they actually sold the ambulance to one of the larger communities. So we're trying to address the challenge to ensure our communities are trained. I think once they realize that they're adequately trained then they may go the next step and look at getting an ambulance or something that they can use to respond. I've heard the stories of people being put in the back of a truck just to get them down to the nursing station basically.

Our challenge is to ensure our communities are able to respond and then they can take the next step, and we'll work with them. We'll work with them to help them identify what money they can use where and also get them recognized. I think the communities do recognize there is a bit of a liability issue, but we'll continue to work with the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, as we are funding this program here, why can't we, as a government, help the communities with the liability issues? You know it is a very important resource for the communities and I think we need to make sure that they have all that they need to fulfill this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Anything further from the Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the liability issue is-- if somebody felt they were mishandled they could actually sue the community because they didn't have the proper training, and so our challenge is to make sure the communities have the proper training. For us to say that we would take on the liability, I think we're just opening ourselves up for potential lawsuits or anything along those lines. Our challenge and our goal should be to make sure the communities are adequately trained that they can respond, and then they can go the next step and get an ambulance if they choose to do so. But for us to actually co-sign as-- for liability, I think that's going down a path that we don't want to take. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was my number one concern right from the start, once we started this fund here, because I've seen it, you know, growing up in Tsiigehtchic where we have no nurse and our people are the first responders, and we're putting them at risk for these liabilities here. Like I said, we need a lot more training and I look forward to that in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Would the Minister like to respond?

I agree with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Do I have any further comments or questions on page 335? Seeing none. Page 336, active positions, public safety, active positions. Questions? Page 336. Seeing none, we will return to the activity total on page 334. Public safety, operations expenditure summary. Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is related to probably joint with the two pots of money here, or the two budgets here: emergency management and office of the fire marshal. I'd like to ask the Minister if there's any allowance within that budget or that department there to assist the smaller communities to make sure that their fire marshal or fire department is up to standard and it meets the audit provided by this department through this budget. Is there funding available for that support? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister.