Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see here that there is a spot for training provided to make sure that communities are well prepared to take on the decision-making authorities. Will there be ongoing check-ins and ongoing support to make sure that we can keep that decision-making authority within the communities and empower them to continue on that road? Thank you.

Madam Chair -- Madam Premier.

You can call me Madam Chair.

---Laughter

Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely, and, as to training, as well, training is only as good as the people who receive the training, so it shouldn't be something that is done one time and just left. It should be something that is ongoing. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. I will move on to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The training right now doesn't have a blueprint. It will depend on the first item within it that talks about that we will be looking at where decision-making can do. Then we will be having to assess what training is needed. It is a bit early today to say what training will look like when we don't know what we are dealing with at this point. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that response, Madam Premier. With this departmental review, it says the winter of 2021. What steps are we going to expect to get this work done over the summer? What kind of work are we going to do between now and this timeline? Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was a little bit confused on what timeline. It is actually this winter. We are already starting to get the departments to do the review. I am not sure if that was the answer to your question or if there was more you wanted. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. You are good? All right. I will move on to the Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will just be brief here on this. In the regions, we do have some regional authority there right now. Some of it is good, but the problem is that it depends on who the person is who has that authority. A lot of times, it lacks fairness. We see that. I see it in my community, and I suspect others see it in their communities, as well. I think that, when we look at devolving some of this, we should come up with something and put something in place so that we can monitor that. One way to monitor is that people come to us as MLAs and complain, but there has got to be something, some training and some ownership, by the people making decisions. There has got to be a process that can be followed and that just provides fairness, is the big thing. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Madam Premier.

I agree, Madam Chair. We need to have some kind of a way of monitoring it and evaluating it. On one hand, over the last four years, I have heard, "Train our people. Give our people the skills. Put them in our jobs." On the other hand, I hear, "You can't have my people in there because they are friends with this family and that family." We do have to make sure that there is a monitoring to make sure that biases do not persist, especially in the smaller regions where that is more of a liability. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. If there are any further questions on the increased regional decision making authority? Seeing none, committee will move on to page 11, "reduce the municipal funding gap." Questions? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The municipal funding gap, it is not exactly a fixed target because it grows with inflation. Can I just confirm whether we are going to close the gap by $5 million, factoring in the fact that it is consistently growing so that this priority would actually cost something more than $5 million? Is that correct?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The expectation is that we will try to avoid grouping them in, that we will close it by $5 million, recognizing, I know, that we might get challenged that it is not enough money, et cetera. It is the best we can do with the resources we have. Tough decisions have to be made. The territorial government, if we did an assessment of what we are short, I think we would blow ourselves out of the water. I know that the communities always cry $40 million, and I feel it. I also feel our own debt. We have to be realistic within that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Yellowknife North.

Sorry. I am not sure that clarified my question. We have thrown money at this before, but, if you don't put enough money to keep pace with the deficit as it grows, you don't actually close the gap. Can I just clarify that? If it is 40, the goal is to get it to 35, and then this will cost us more than $5 million. Is that correct?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Madam Premier. Mr. Goldney.