Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson ( Jun 02/00) - Cabinet ministers were on the hot seat as municipal politicians from around the NWT wrapped up their annual convention Sunday.

Short notice regarding reductions to block funding and not being invited to attend an intergovernmental forum in Hay River last month were two primary sources of indignation for NWT municipal leaders.

And by the conclusion of the NWT Association of Municipalities (NWTAM) annual general meeting, Premier Stephen Kakfwi told delegates that he would arrange to meet with the NWTAM executive to discuss the issues further.

It didn't take long for municipal frustrations to rise to the surface.

Fort Simpson Mayor Norm Prevost levelled the most stinging criticism after the cabinet ministers completed their opening addresses.

The ministers frequently referred to building partnerships with municipalities, something Prevost said he hasn't seen.

"It disgusts me that you come in here as a cabinet and say the things you do," Prevost said. "I don't think you have realized what you have done to the municipalities ... (and) you're making us responsible for your actions."

A 4.73 per cent slash in block funding to tax-based communities, for example, came with too little notice, Prevost told MACA Minister Jim Antoine. He argued that mayors are the ones who will be held accountable at public meetings for the resulting layoffs and cuts to capital projects.

Prevost noted that municipal budgets are planned in October and November to have them ready for Dec. 31. The block funding cuts come half-way through the budget year, he stated, adding that it's been two-and-a-half-years that tax-based municipalities have been waiting to renegotiate a long-term block funding agreement.

"We're still sitting here not knowing what our future is," Prevost said.

Antoine replied that he took over the MACA portfolio in January and it has been a learning process for himself and his new deputy minister. He has since come to find out that the municipalities' time-line for budgeting is different from the GNWT's.

"It's (the funding reduction) not intended to offend anybody or anything like that. It's a tough decision that had to be made. I should have given you better notice earlier on in the process," he said. "Hopefully there's going to be some understanding there ... sometimes you have to make these tough decisions and this is one we had to make."

Antoine explained that the GNWT's capital budget was slashed $10 million by the Financial Management Board, of which $1.3 million will come from MACA's budget. The 4.73 per cent cut in block-funding accounts for $570,000, he noted. An equal amount has been cut from the budgets for smaller communities by deferring or cancelling capital projects.

The department is absorbing some of the shortfall internally by not filling positions, such as two assistant deputy minister positions, Antoine added.

MACA's budget was to have been reviewed by the Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development on Monday.

It is then to be debated in the legislative assembly before the reductions take effect for the NWT's six taxed-based communities.

NWTAM vice-president Bob Brooks noted that in Nova Scotia there's legislation that one year's notice of funding cuts must be given to municipalities. In the Yukon there's legislation being considered for three years notice for changes, he said, suggesting that something similar should be considered in the NWT.

Given another chance to speak, Prevost changed his focus, but again criticized the territorial government for not inviting the municipalities to an intergovernmental forum in Hay River last month. The forum, which addressed aboriginal self-government, resource revenue sharing and other devolution issues, involved officials from the federal government, the GNWT and aboriginal groups.

Antoine responded that the GNWT is already considered a "third party" at the table and to introduce another player, namely municipal leaders, might jeopardize the trust-building process.

"This meeting for us was very sensitive, a very delicate situation," he said. "It's important to recognize that for us the process is still very fragile at this time."

In the future, specific issues that affect municipal governments should result in their representatives being invited to the table, Antoine suggested.