Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just going on for the record, again, saying that this is probably one of the silliest cuts I have seen, and I do not support this. However, I am going to have to have an internal struggle with the budget. I have had the conversation with some people here about whether I am going to support it or not, but right now, this is an internal struggle I have. I honestly believe that these games belong to the Northwest Territories, and the Government of the Northwest Territories should be putting money into it and not taking it out of lotteries. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. I will take that as a comment. Any further questions, committee? Seeing none, I call the page, support for recreation and youth, operations expenditure summary, $5,342,000. Does committee agree?

Agreed. Thank you. That brings us to page 366. It's just information on page 366 and 367. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know this is an information item, but I have a question for the Minister on the gas tax. I can't remember last year how we ended up with $11 million extra in gas tax. Could the Minister just refresh my memory? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $11 million was actually just a carry-over figure from the previous year. Mr. Chair, I will let Ms. Young expand on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Ms. Young.

Thank you, Ms. Young. Any further questions, Mr. Beaulieu?

No. That's okay.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Committee, it's actually information item from page 364 to 367. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to follow up on my colleague's questions about gas tax reporting, then. I heard the deputy minister say that we are working with communities to improve compliance. What does that actually look like? Are we sending folks to the communities to assist with preparation of reports? I have no idea. What are we doing to improve the reporting so that the money is going to flow better into the future? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have a variety of training programs offered through the School of Community Government. We have webinars that we provide for them. If a community is struggling, we do pay close attention, and we will send someone into that community to try to work with them to ensure that that community meets the requirements of any funding applications that they have outstanding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am glad to hear that. I know that we have a circuit rider program for water treatment training and so on, and if we need one on the Finance side, that would be a good use of money, I think, to make sure that the money flows properly. I don't have to tell the department this; they know this stuff, but I appreciate their efforts on improving the reporting. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister, do you care to comment?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will take that as a comment.

Thank you. Any further questions? Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly. Sorry, Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I realize it is getting late here. I just don't want to be mistaken for someone else here, please. That is what I am getting at, is the compliment here portion, to the Minister.

I am a strong believer on these three particular programs: the Gas Tax, the Small Community Fund, and the Clean Waste Water Fund. To give you some examples of how well I think it is working, and the weakness part, is now the Community of Colville Lake has a new water intake facility, providing cleaner product to go into the delivery truck.

Last year, I was very happy to witness the dust control liquids going to improve the roads around Deline. Now we don't have this dust blowing all over the place and people having to close their windows all the time.

Those are just examples of what I think this program is doing for the smaller communities. I am glad to hear the deputy minister is addressing the weakness part of the administration, which is compliance and reporting. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister Cochrane.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will take that as a compliment, and I will share that with our department. Thank you, again, to the MLA. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Any further questions, Mr. McNeely? No further questions on page 364 to 367? Seeing none, we will now return to the departmental summary on page 331.

Municipal and Community Affairs, total department, $107,177,000. Does committee agree?