Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have been working with the communities to update their firebreak plans. The Member pointed out before, quite correctly, that the last one, I believe, was done in 2012. They are working with the communities now to update their fire protection plans. I know for a fact they are going to be up in the Member's community this summer working with them to evaluate the fuelbreaks that are there and see if they can take ways to mitigate them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned in my statement, the community did put forward a proposal, which was so close to being approved, but then things got so busy with the fires down in this area. What resources are available for communities to implement their community wildland fire protection plans?

I think if there is some need within the community, I believe, through the money that we provide to the communities there are opportunities there. ENR is working to identify funding that might be made available to communities with their fuelbreak. We were growing a forest full of trees but they went up in the great fire of 2014.

What steps does Fort McPherson need to take to get its fuelbreaks completed, or start doing the work this year?

As I said before, our focus will be in the Member's riding this summer working with them to identify some of their needs as far as fuelbreaks go and then work with them. Again, ENR has committed to try to identify any types of funding that we might be able to provide if there is a need for it.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last couple of years the department has had in the neighbourhood of $50 to $60 million each year, so I am sure that the department can find some funds available. Moving forward, would the department set aside some funds for communities throughout the territory to complete their firebreaks to protect their communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about ground ambulance and highway rescue, as I have done many times. Just to bring everyone up to speed, I would like to recap what we have learned so far from my previous questioning. No single department is delegated with authority over this issue. Twenty-seven communities don't have ground ambulances. Community governments provide highway emergency services far beyond their own borders, mostly out of their own pocket. There has been $1.8 million to provide community governments since 2007 to deal with the issue. The issue is going to cost millions of dollars to fix. There is no timeline to address this issue. The government needs to save money, so it can't provide any further support. That is what we have learned from the previous questioning.

I may not have many questions if there has been nothing going on, but I will give it a shot. Since the last questioning, last October, what steps have been taken to create a coordinated and adequately funded service delivery regime for ground ambulance and highway rescue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, we have been doing some movement on this file. The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that it is an issue. We don't want to leave people stranded and we want to make health and safety our priority, to take care of people.

We have met with the municipal government of Hay River to hear their concerns. We have also met interdepartmentally with Health and Social Services, Transportation, Department of Justice, and Municipal and Community Affairs. We have committed to hiring a consultant to go in and do an action plan; not a research project, this has been researched to death, but to actually do an action plan to see how we can support ground ambulance within the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Usually I hate to hear that the government is doing another action plan, but in this case it is better than what has been going on. The regional centres are providing the highway rescue services for large areas. That is because 27 communities don't have ground ambulances. The Minister said the departments have been in talks with some of the communities. Have they been in talks with all of the communities to address not only the highway rescue but also the ground ambulance part of this equation?

We will be meeting with some of the communities, but the five tax-based communities is what we will be focusing on, recognizing that there are 33 communities within the Northwest Territories. However, not all of those 33 communities have road systems, and we are talking about ground ambulance, not highway rescue.

There is an action plan in development. Can the Minister provide us with a timeline of when we can expect the action plan to be completed, but also when we can start seeing the effects on the ground, whether it be money rolling out to the communities or legislative changes or anything in that manner?

We will be starting the project in the spring of this coming year. There are a couple of issues. There are a few things that we are looking at as difficulties; for example, the municipality of Hay River seems to have issues with collection of fees, yet the municipality of Yellowknife has no issue with the collection of fees. We are trying to figure out what the difference is. We are looking at gaps. We are looking at overlaps. We have heard that even those we have given up boundaries and said, "These are your limits to pick up people," we are hearing that three communities are going to the rescue. It is not only about the funding. We will be looking at the funding formula, but it is also the coordination of ground ambulance and highway services.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned that Hay River has trouble with collections whereas Yellowknife doesn't. Yellowknife has a much bigger staff. So would the Minister commit to funding another position in Hay River that's responsible for collection of ambulance fees? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As Members should be aware, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs worked on a new deal -- what was called a new deal many years ago, I believe it was 2007, where the communities actually decide for themselves what they want. We provide funding for that. If the municipality of Hay River would like to hire somebody out of their own, then we would more than support that decision from the municipality.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to ask more questions on junior kindergarten. Mr. Speaker, the Minister indicated that the first group of schools that started junior kindergarten rolled out kindergarten at their own expense. So $2 million was taken out of the school boards. Is the Minister saying that that $2 million is not part of the fully funded -- the term "fully funded" that's been used by the GNWT right now to fund junior kindergarten, that $2 million spent by the school boards is no longer in the mix? Is that the case? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier, the $5.1 million is only money coming to this government to fund junior kindergarten 2017-18. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I didn't even mention the words $5.1 million. I'm asking the Minister, $2 million was put in by the school boards against their own judgment. They said that they couldn't afford it but the department made a decision that they would have to fund it themselves. I'm asking the Minister if that $2 million is part of the full funding?