Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for his answer. So with the $2.1 million, using the Minister's numbers, that leaves a $36 million gap. Is it possible to readjust some of those funding levels to expedite this process sooner than later? My fear is that this government will never have as much money as it wants to meet all of its funding priorities, services, programs, and capital needs. This will be a gap that remains unfilled for many, many years. So is it possible to readjust community funding levels based on the Formula Financing Review to come closer to meeting this gap, this $36 million gap? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, of the $38 million that was identified as a shortfall, $23 million of that was actually capital and $15 million was O and M. With the money we've put in, the O and M has actually come down to about $13.9 million. The money we received from the federal government certainly helps us address some of the capital issues, and then our CPI funding that we provide to the communities has been at $28,002,000 for a long time. I can't remember how long it's been. Since 2007. We've been fortunate that we've been able to access a lot of federal money. Then with the new federal government, we're looking forward to accessing more of that money to help address some of the shortfall.

If there are opportunities for us to make some adjustments where we can start trying to identify -- or work with the communities to address their shortfall. It's something we'll have a look at. We have to make sure we're very careful in where we're getting the money from. Ideally, at the end of the day we'd like to see some savings through the process that we're going through so that we can, in a couple of years, start to address them. Next year, we'll help the communities. We may increase it again due to forced growth. At the end of the day our goal is to have the funding shortfall addressed and, once we're in a better financial position, I think this government is going to be able to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that I don't think anyone in this House has an interest in picking winners and losers when it comes to community infrastructure funding, and it is a cautious process. My concern with relying on federal funding is that fluctuates from government to government, from year to year, and it's not a guarantee, whereas we can have more control over how the funding flows through this government. This is a real priority for our communities and it has real economic impacts, if infrastructure dollars are being spent in local economies. I strongly encourage the Minister and the department to be very proactive on this issue and get more of these resources flowing. Granted that we don't want to pick winners and losers, but I hope the next business plan will see an increase over two per cent, and we can see of an impact on the infrastructure side of things. I'll just leave that with the Minister, but I think we're all in the interest of moving forward on this and getting stronger, healthier, safer communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Comments from the Minister?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we don't rely solely on the contributions from the federal government. We use that to enhance programs that we already offer to our communities. As Minister of MACA and being able to get to all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories, I've seen the benefits of the money that we invest in the communities and some of the decisions that they're making as to how best to use their money, on the capital side. It has reaped some benefits and rewards for the community. It's not a perfect system, pretty close to it, but we're continuing to try to enhance and improve this program. Any opportunity we have to access any federal dollars to help our communities offset some of the -- because if we can get money from the federal government, then they don't have to rely so much on their CPI, or they can use part of their CPI to match the federal investment.

So we will continue to work with the communities, and we want to make sure that our communities are safe and viable. I know from experience that they are. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. Testart? Nothing further from Mr. Testart. I'm going to call a brief break. We will resume shortly. Thank you.

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We ended off with Mr. Nadli discussing page 339. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to commend the department, first of all, for being at least there for communities in terms of ensuring that the funding is made available for programs and services that they might be delivered. In most cases, what exists out there is that you have a band council and then you have a settlement council or a hamlet council. You have, more likely, two institutions running the communities.

I'm just trying to understand the nature of some of the funding that flows from, say, MACA, to local governments. Is it in the forms of application-based funding programs or these are transfers? Mahsi. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Ms. Young.

Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it's good in terms of working with communities and trying to build that strong relationship, at least at the local level. I think it's been made referenced that the School of Community Government and the local municipalities associations have a hand in terms of working with MACA down the road, of ensuring that communities are in a position to meet reporting requirements in terms of further their training and capacities so that there's sound financial management plan in terms of ensuring that, at the local level, these funds are administered properly, at the same time that reporting deadlines are met on a timely basis. Is there plans for, perhaps, an initiative to make sure that more training and capacity is made available for communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Ms. Young.

Thank you, Ms. Young. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just recently, this government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with various regional groups. It's part of the devolution process. On that similar basis, does the department identify a need perhaps to forge a closer working relationship with Aboriginal or regional organizations that have the capacity in terms of a tribal alliance, to maybe forge a strong working relationship to ensure that, you know, there is a system in place so that this reporting requirement, not only to the territorial government but, also, at the same time, is to the federal government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, with the funding we provide to the band governments, we have requirements, as Ms. Young said, for reporting. I'm not sure if the Member wants us to include the regional government into that equation because we deal strictly remotely with the community governments to address some of the challenges they might face. I'm not sure if the Member is wanting us to include the regional governments into that, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply. To try and add more context to the point that I'm making is that, you know, perhaps there's an identified need to try to bring MACA together in its regional operations with, say, the tribal council in terms of ensuring that communities are not only at the receiving end of large amounts of funding but ensuring that, you know, there's a fluid reporting system in place, and that the local communities do have the capacity in terms of the financial management and meeting their financial reporting obligations on a timely basis so that deadlines are met and that we avoid, you know, the circumstance of third-party remediation or such a predicament that communities might find themselves in; so whether that's been considered or not? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.