Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In keeping with the Olympic sentiment here in the room today and celebrating our athletes, Members are rightfully concerned about the state of the physical activity, sport and recreation Fund. I spoke about it in the main estimates review. It's been dangerously close to its $3 million deficit. Many years ago, in the 18th Assembly, decisions were made that have imperilled the fund's future success and now it's even more complicated by the rise in costs of travel and low lottery sales. So the Minister said that he would commit to building a plan. It seems like the only plan to me is to spend the money it needs to continue to function and send our kids to these games. So can the Minister just commit going forward, that we're going to spend the resources that are required to support our young athletes? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, as I stated yesterday in the Committee of the Whole meeting, we have been doing a bunch of work on stabilizing the fund and trying to find a path forward, you know, on the funds that we're lacking. We have money in the budget this year for supporting the Arctic Winter Games. Also, we're continuing to review what some of the issues are. Some of the stuff is out of our control, I mean with the the ongoing use of online gambling is definitely impacting our -- you know, like the the Sports Select and stuff like that. So, like, there's organizations out there that are doing the same thing and we're not seeing the benefits anymore. So, unfortunately, you know, we have plans on looking at legislating online gambling and have money in the budget if we can go ahead and study it and see what else we can get out of online gambling. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Sounds like a good idea, Mr. Speaker; I wonder who raised it. But, Mr. Speaker, is this the plan to solve the gap with the fund? Because if it is, bringing a consultant in to do studying is a far cry from actually implementing legislation, building a compliance regime, and moving forward with tax and regulation of something that is harming our communities and we're losing revenue because it's not regulated. So can we get more than a committee to look at this? Is the Minister signaling now, today, that we are going to do this, bring the revenues in to our gaming fund, and keep Northerners and consumers safe? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, yeah, we're looking into this. And I don't want to say we're studying it because I don't think that's the goal here. The goal is to move ahead as quick as possible so we don't lose out on the opportunities. However, I will say that I know Alberta just, you know, finalized a lot of their stuff, so we're not too far behind, and I hope we can catch up to them and maybe, you know, get some of that gaming legislation out there sooner rather than later. And, like I said, you know, the iGaming stuff is important, and I am happy the Member brought it up, and I am happy to continue to work with the Member on some of this stuff to try to build up that fund and find different ways of gaining revenue for our lotteries fund that ultimately supports sports in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, as much as I appreciate going off topic here, I do think I want to bring it back to multi-sport games. So a plan to plan is not a plan. Can the Minister commit that going forward, we will ensure that northern athletes will have access to multi-sport games as they've previously enjoyed before the fund started getting into trouble? That's a commitment to our youth. It's a commitment to our future. I am hoping the Minister will make it today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the funds that have been allocated in the budget are a commitment that this government is definitely interested in maintaining the funding levels for the sport in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Colleagues, in recognition of the time, we're going to take a brief recess for our translators. Thank you.
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Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
