Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate what the Minister is saying, but, with all due respect to the Minister, I do not think they should have to make that decision when we have identified a $23-million gap. I know it is tough economic times, but $23 million injected into local infrastructure projects is going to make an impact on local economies and help spur the economy. That has been the approach of the federal government, and we are looking at historic growth across Canada. I would encourage the Minister to look at ways to achieve equivalent growth through infrastructure spending in local communities where it can be felt directly, and it should start with a $23 million investment. Nothing further, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is important to note that not all communities are actually in a deficit position. Some communities are actually in a surplus position. However, any new revenues that we get, we try to focus on the communities that do have the deficit and within the needs-based model that we have developed to assess communities' financial standings. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I want to follow up on some of the questions that my colleagues have asked. First off, on 911, did I hear the Minister say then that the capital costs associated with that are not going to happen until 2018-2019? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is correct. At this point, we have not finalized the implementation plan. Before we spend capital money on equipment, et cetera, for 911, like I said, we need to do a lot of work with communities. There are some communities within the Northwest Territories that do not even have street addresses. It is a matter of we cannot send a 911 service and say, "It's the red block behind Charlie's house," you know, so we have work to do before we are ready to develop an NWT-wide 911 service.

Some of the communities, like Yellowknife, for example, are more advanced in that way, but we need to get all communities up to speed before we can implement the plan because we want to avoid confusion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I understand the Minister is committed to 911 and I commend her for doing that and making that step. That's a very strong political commitment that was made in this House. I know that the fall started yesterday, so are we looking at before Christmas we're going to get a present with this plan for a 911? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Just a reminder, all Members it's capital needs, it's not O and M, but I'll bring it over to Minister Cochrane. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You will see a strategy before Christmas. I will not be giving Christmas presents to everybody, though. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank Madam Scrooge. She is going to bring the plan forward and it will contain the capital needs for 911, that's great. Is the Minister prepared to look at a supplementary appropriation to get this work started in 2018-2019 rather than wait for 2019-2020? Thanks, Mr. Chair

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a little bit ahead of the game to actually say that. We will have the plan developed before Christmas; after that, once we've developed the plan and identified exactly what we'll need if we need to go for a supplementary appropriation, then we will look at that. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I hope that satisfies Mrs. Claus' comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I sort of feel like Prancer now. I'll be prancing more once we get the plan and a supplementary appropriation, but I encourage the Minister to keep working on this really hard and I respect her efforts on that.

I want to turn to municipal funding, capital funding now, and I recall that the NWTAC worked closely with communities and the department to carry out a municipal funding review and that, rather than just a straight formula, it was going to be much more of a needs-based approach. Does this capital spending move us any closer to that new arrangement? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had made a commitment previously to not change the funding that is given out currently, even though we did do the funding review and found that some communities had surpluses and some communities had deficits. This funding is actually based on the old model. But, like I said, all new monies that come in are based on the newer model where we do address the communities and deficit first before the communities that have a surplus or their needs are met. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that. I understood that there was going to be an action plan developed to move us towards the new model, and of course that new model does not leave any of the small communities behind; they're going to be protected in that, and that's what the municipal funding review concluded and everybody accepted. When are we going to see that action plan move us towards the new model? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Cochrane.

As stated earlier, the action plan will be developed. We're looking at it now and it will be developed and ready to share with standing committee in the fall, prior to Christmas. Thank you, Mr. Chair.