Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to kick off debate as I did earlier, but I probably won't spend as much time going through this one. This motion speaks for itself.
Communities, whether you live in a large one or a small one, are all starved for resources. We talked about the municipal funding gap at length. And this is just one more thing piled on to them that they need to respond to.
Mr. Speaker, the challenge is, of course, we know, first of all, it's money, so the resource of money is not there for these communities. Then you have the skills and abilities to do this. I mean, these are specialized expertise. This motion really does talk to the issue of MACA coordinating them for all communities, and then looking at them from a regional point of view and help -- and then tieing them together so they're consistent and then giving them, the communities, all communities, in a draft form, so then they can say, hey, my needs in Trout Lake are way different than my needs in Colville Lake, or my needs in Inuvik are much different than Yellowknife, or my needs are different in Smith than they are in Norman Wells. So, like, every community is very different but the concept and the expertise about asking the important questions, such as make sure you have this, make sure you know where these are, considering this an enormous undertaking. But it's the financial and expertise that, you know, when it comes to the money and know-how to build these things and give them to communities. We have to set these communities up for success. And that's the critical part about this, is leading and coordinating these initiatives and then giving them to the individual communities and say hey, this is important to me, these are our key resources, these are our partners, we agree with this. If they don't want the draft plan, Mr. Speaker, I wouldn't stand in the way of a community that says we don't want the draft plan. I mean if MACA -- but the thing is they go it alone then, and I don't want to see that. I want them to work in partnership. This is about collaboration and leadership. And it takes leadership from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to help support and initiate these processes so they're ready, so they're done in a timely way, so we're not waiting too long. I mean, the complaints about our plans there, why are they different, why are they missing things. I mean, this would help resolve some of those issues and resolve confidence in our northern concerns, which is is my region, is my community ready? If it is ready, what does ready mean and what does ready look like? What does is it sound like? How does it trigger? What triggers this? How do we respond? So that's the kind of concept here.
I should stress it's not intended to force this on anybody and that's not the intent of this motion. So if anyone feels that their community, this would force it, this is not. It's meant about working in collaboration. And the bottom line is is it's about MACA picking up the tab, which really it belongs to, rather than on the individual citizens on that. So whether you live -- I mean, where do you get extra money when you live in Fort Providence? It's not sitting around there. That community government is struggling to keep water moving in those streets and, you know, doing the important things that communities do. There used to be an old saying dogs, ditches, and dumps. That's what communities should be focusing on. You know, the infrastructure of towns. But as times move on, processes become heavier and heavier, they give them more and more to do, and MACA says this is important, you must have these things. Well, when you say these things are important, they must be done, they must be funded too.
So, Mr. Speaker, that's to start off discussion. I look forward to the insights and ideas and suggestions my community members have. I'm open to them. And I certainly think that they would be help in any form to help get this motion through with the intent of this is about supporting communities, which ultimately is supporting people and making sure we're safe.
And lastly, Mr. Speaker, of course I'll be asking for a recorded vote so I may as well put that -- let the public know now. Cheers.