Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is that $500,000 incorporated into community government funding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, it is found in the recreation section of the binder. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.

Recreation funding of $825,000. Of that, $500,000 is used for youth centres? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 340, it shows the youth centres funding for $500,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wasn't sure where the funding was situated, so I am happy that it is not in this section. Just the same line of questioning now for arenas, to operate the arena. Where does that funding come from? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The operation of the arena if a community sees fit, that that is what they decide to operate is found on page 330, and it is under grants, contributions and transfers, the $81,081,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister when the last time the funding model, all of the money that is going to communities, has been reviewed. It appears as though sometimes, depending on how the year goes, they don't have enough money to fully operate an arena or the arena opens up fairly late. I was wondering if the Minister could advise, when they are doing the funding for the communities, if they contemplate all of the infrastructure that is in the community and if they target funding towards the infrastructure in that community.

I guess the reason I am asking this question, Mr. Chair, is because, prior to the New Deal, there were some arenas built with direct capital from the Government of the Northwest Territories. When the New Deal was created, I don't know if there has been substantial increase in the O and M, but I know that in the capital there haven't been any increases there. I am not sure that it shows a significant increase here as well.

I am wondering if there has been some sort of budget review, I guess we will call it for lack of a better term, at the community level so that we ensure that huge, expensive assets or infrastructure items like arenas are not sitting there empty, not used, when the department, even recreation, supports and encourages residents to become more physically active and so on and so forth, and also some responsibilities for youth. I am wondering when that review occurred last. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The New Deal came out in 2007, and that was when the Government of the Northwest Territories stopped telling communities what to do with their funds and actually started listening to the communities and allowing communities to decide their own.

In 2014, though, we did do another funding review. At that time, when we looked at the operating and maintenance, we did take into consideration all of their core infrastructure needs, and an arena is a core infrastructure. It is in the category of core infrastructures. At that point, we realized that, I can't remember the exact figure, I think it was $39 million in deficit. We presented to FMB a package to deal with the deficits within a five-year period. It came back and said that they would want over 10 years.

We have a 10-year commitment actually, and that is why you see new increases every year to address the gap. I think at this point we are now at $34 million. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I am saying is that, yes, the operating and maintenance is included with the communities and it does take into account the fact that they would have an arena as well as other core infrastructure in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I thought the Minister had indicated that the review was done in 2014 and that it was a 10-year plan to recover the deficit. I was more or less asking, not about what type of deficits were accumulated, but why, maybe, the deficits got accumulated to start with? Trying to operate some infrastructure that was not funded for? The Minister indicated the arena is a core infrastructure that gets funding. I am wondering why it occurs that they are not able to operate the arena. I guess that is more of a comment, but if the Minister wants to comment on that, that would be fine. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am done.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I stated, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs spends a lot of time with communities to develop their community plans. We try to give them recommendations. If they are, for example, building a fire hall that is too big or an arena that is too big, when they have the infrastructure in place, we talk to them about their plans in regard to what it will cost to run it.

There are certain categories that they are allowed to spend their monies on to take care of their needs. Although some community governments, in all honesty, are not using their funding appropriately. We have had community governments that have loaned out some of their funds to Aboriginal governments. We have had some community governments that have decided to use quite a bit of funding for things like travel, etc. When those things do occur and we get alerted about them in their quarterly reports, we do try to work with the communities to try to provide them with advice on how they should be spending their money. Again, with the New Deal, it is the community governments' determination on where they want to spend their money. If they would rather send their council members on trips versus having an arena open 24-7, then that is the choice of the community government, but we do fund them appropriately within their operating and maintenance to be able to run the arena. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. I have no one further on my list. I will call this section. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just going to go back to the position in Nahendeh there and those three positions. The Minister said if it is not broken, we are not going to fix it. Well, is this program broken now and that is why we are fixing it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

We looked at this program because, like I said, we did not have this position in every single region. It was already an inequality amongst the regions, and when we looked it over, we decided that we could provide the services more effectively with the two positions versus having an extra position in the one region. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.