Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks for that explanation. So, yeah, I get that. The last time I looked, I think the consumer price index for Yellowknife was about 7.8 percent or something. And I don't know what it is across the NWT. But, you know, I just don't see any allowance here for any kind of an increase for community governments in terms of inflation. No forced growth. How does the department ensure then that the communities are able to, you know, use -- or, you know, make up the -- provide the programs and services and do the infrastructure replacement if the money that they get from MACA's not increasing? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Debates of Oct. 19th, 2022
This is page numbers 4687 - 4726 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.
Topics
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4720
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4720
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4720
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
So we do have staff that works with the municipalities. We help them with the plan, see where their challenges are, and see how we can help them move forward. Thank you.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4720
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. Okay, so where are we at with calculating a new version or figure for the municipal funding gap and actually addressing that? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Gareau
Thank you, Madam Chair. So MACA is currently working with the NWT Association of Communities and the local government administrators of the NWT on updating the four main community government funding policies. As part of that process, MACA has committed to provide each community government with a breakdown for their individual department of the quantum of the municipal funding gap and where that gap is, if it's O and M, if it's water/sewer, if it's capital.
The reason we've committed to that is, as Minister Thompson was saying earlier, because it's a good planning tool and it's helpful for community governments to have that information so that they can plan and budget accordingly, and then MACA's able to support them in that process. Thank you.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I agree that that would be really helpful for the communities to individually have it. It also would be helpful for MLAs to have in terms of making sure that we get as much money as we can into MACA to get it out to the communities again. So is that sort of information going to be available publicly? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
So we can share it with committee. But, again, right now it's with the communities. It'll be with the communities. And how they share it, it's up to them. But we're willing to work with committee to get that information, and if the NWTAC says yeah, we want to make it public, then we're good with it. But, again, we need to work with our municipalities with this. Thank you.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, okay, thanks. Yeah, I appreciate the commitment there from the Minister to share it with us, and then work with NWTAC. And I don't see any reason why this couldn't or shouldn't be made public. But I'm sort of thinking of some kind of a public dashboard that, you know, could get updated at least once a year. But, okay.
Lastly, I know my colleague asked about the asset plans. How many asset plans have actually been finished for community governments? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
So we don't have that detail. I'll have to get back to committee. Thank you.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, thanks for that. I guess I'm trying to find a way to talk about this, because I know what the number is, but let's just say it's significantly less than the number of communities that are outlined on page 70, from what I understand. So if, you know, a significant number of communities don't have completed asset plans, and that's my understanding, how do we actually know what the municipal funding gap is and how do we, you know -- how do we get every community to have a community asset plan? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Yes, so -- yes, we're working with the communities to get their asset plan in place. But, again, we're working with them. And we had COVID. I can tell you that right now when I was working -- dealing with one of my communities they talked about their asset plan, the problem was is that we couldn't get staff in there to do the work. So our staff are starting to work with the municipalities to address this very concern, and we're willing to move forward. Thank you.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4721
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4722
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Okay, I'll just make a suggestion to the Minister, that if he needs some extra money to kind of get this work done quickly so that all the asset plans are done, you know, within a reasonable period of time, I'd be happy to support that as a supplemental appropriation, because we need that information to calculate and track what the municipal funding gap is. If communities and MACA don't know what their assets are, how do you know what the gap is? So is that something the department is prepared to look at, is what it would take to get this work done a little more quickly than the pace that it seems to have happened at. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4722
Committee Motion 298-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 - Justice - Assembly - Deferral of Department (page 60), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 4722
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Thank you. So it is one of our priorities to get done, and we're working with NWTAC on that. But for clarity on how the process is done, I'll turn to the deputy minister with your permission, Madam Chair.