Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories, community governments can provide municipal services to our residents who rely on annual core funding from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs for their operation and maintenance needs. This funding also allows them to provide vital water and sewer services to community residents and build public infrastructure.
At the start of the Legislative Assembly, the Government of the Northwest Territories acknowledged that there is a gap between the core funding needs of the community governments and the level of funding that they are getting. In its 2016 mandate, the GNWT committed to developing a strategy to close this funding gap over the next nine years, which meant we could expect the gap to be closed by the year 2025-2026.
In 2018-2019, MACA's business plan said that the community operations division would begin to implement the strategy that "will allow the government to close the gap in community government funding levels over the next nine years." On this basis, it would appear that we now expect the municipal funding gap to be closed by the year 2027-2028.
Mr. Speaker, it has been three years since this commitment was made, and the Members of this Assembly have yet to see the strategy. Every year that there is a shortfall in funding to community governments, the amounts of the shortfall compound, meaning that the funding gap that existed in 2016 has grown over three years, while at the same time inflation increases the cost of living and erodes the spending power of municipalities.
I am concerned at the lack of process by GNWT on mandate commitment 4.5.5. If the department keeps pushing off the start of the nine-year window for closing the gap, we will never see this gap being addressed. For years that we delay this work, there needs to be a recognition that the strategy may have to change to account for the compound growth in the funding shortfall.
I'm not confident MACA is accurately accounting for this fact, nor do I have any comfort that a strategy is forthcoming. Today I will have questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs on the department's work in this area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.