Thank you, Mr. Chair. In my role as chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, our committee is responsible for reviewing the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs' business plan and proposed initiatives. We have spent time with this department, both in business planning and more recently, and perhaps of higher priority, the recent report of the Auditor General of Canada.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations and the Committee on Priority and Planning are pleased to see the department produce an action plan and put a high degree of priority on that action plan. Furthermore, we are pleased to see the development of a costed implementation plan for 911 service in the Northwest Territories. These things are welcome initiatives that are both important to our residents and important to our priorities as an Assembly.

The standing committee continues to recommend that the elimination of positions within the department be delayed or not implemented at all, to take a stronger look at how we are developing the new lottery fund and potential reductions and impacts to multi-sport game contributions. These are important to the areas of responsibilities that they benefit the regions where these positions are located. Multi-sport games, of course, are crucial for young people in the territory to develop skills for volunteerism amongst community members and to celebrate the culture and athletic achievement of Northerners. We very much would like to see this funding maintained and these programs operating to the best ability that they can.

On a personal note, MACA has a lot on its plate, and that includes a fairly lengthy legislative agenda, especially with new commitments to develop 911 services and to update pieces of legislation stemming from the Auditor General's report. Some of this is in our mandate, including the commitment to review the Cities, Towns and Villages Act.

Unfortunately, myself and other members of the standing committee do feel that the department could be moving more expediently in this manner and is duplicating work that has previously been done. There are many, many consultations that have been proposed and although consultation is always welcome, some of these are uncontroversial and well thought-out amendments and initiatives that have been kicking around our cities, towns, and villages for many, many years. So honourable Members on this side of the House would like to see more decisive leadership from the Minister on these files, especially when there are existing recommendations and resolutions from our municipal partners to make these changes happen.

So I guess I will end on saying that, while we welcome some of the direct actions that have emerged in this budget, there is still a bit of hesitation to move more expediently on other areas that are of crucial importance to the communities that we serve. Thank you, Mr. Chair.