Bill Braden

Yes, Mr. Speaker. The creation of this council, it seems, is something very much driven by the government. The history was one of expectations and things that people from various sectors, various communities and regions thought should be in there but weren’t quite being delivered on. I would like to probe again just what is the mandate of this council and how is it going to improve the delivery of sport and recreation services in the NWT. The mandates, please, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every northerner watches daily, nervously, as the world price of oil rises. It looks more and more like it's going to settle in the $50 U.S. a barrel range, and that means yet more dollars out of pockets for essential heat and transportation and fewer dollars for the other necessities of life. We look at a world suffering more and more from the effects of pollution from fossil fuels, how it affects our health and the environment around us, and we know that our northern regions, Mr. Speaker, are going to take the earliest and the most severe hit from global warming.

We...

Because it’s the kind of inaction that on this side of the House I don’t want to tolerate any more from this government. I’m sending a signal.

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Mr. Speaker, I believe in a good security system for the travelling public in Canada. I believe northerners are prepared to pay a share of it, but I object to being handed an open-ended invoice with no plan and, therefore, no confidence in how we’re going to implement this.

On a more fundamental issue, Mr. Speaker, related to this security business, all legislators must be on guard when independent security agencies can dictate conditions to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The press reports from the activities in Ottawa earlier this week make quite an interesting package of reading. I was looking at a summary of the last day or two of coverage in the southern press. An interesting thing about the whole process, Madam Chair, is that it’s viewed in so many different ways depending on where you’re from in Canada and you’re perspectives or your expectations. The process does not seem to have really connected with a whole lot of certainty in the rest of Canada. We had one Premier literally storming out of the process, others saying that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be speaking in support of the motion and I would look at the three tasks or the demands that we are putting forward in this motion, Mr. Speaker, as the areas that I would like to address. I think my statement reflected my deep concern for the first requirement, Mr. Speaker, and that is that we take on a much more urgent basis the sunset of the funding program that we have had in place with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from $33 million, Mr. Speaker, this year in long-term mortgage assistance and O and M, and we’re going to see that drop, I think...

Mr. Speaker, the 2004-06 business plan outlines a goal to build between 750 and 800 units in the NWT over the next five years. This is under the affordable housing strategy. Now, this goal is about 18 months old. It’s the most recent one that I could find that’s before the public, Mr. Speaker, and I’d like to ask if these targets, 750 to 800 units over the next five years, are still in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To follow up on the theme today, my questions are directed to Mr. Krutko, the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. I was looking at the business plan for the corporation and reflecting on the diminishing funding levels from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which today amount to in the order of $33 million a year. These will sunset. My question, Mr. Speaker, is what lobbying efforts are underway now to restore federal investment in public housing in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the third demand here is that our corporation work with other stakeholders to develop a convincing proposal to take to the federal government for additional investment. The Minister indicated he is going to be seeing the federal Minister, I think it was next month. We hope, Mr. Speaker, that he will take this message to heart and involve other people in the Housing Corporation's plans and visions. There’s a 10-year plan that we understand is in the makings. I wish we could learn more about that today or very soon, but I’m anticipating that in the near future we will, and I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, so there seems to be some momentum and some innovation here. The Minister has mentioned something about a 10-year plan. Is this something that has been put before the public or the Assembly and could the Minister tell us more about this initiative? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we really have nothing more than another meeting scheduled among Ministers. If the Minister would like to expand on anything there, I’d welcome it at some point, but I’d like to know what other options is our Housing Corporation looking at to ensure that we will continue to have adequate investment in our housing infrastructure, Mr. Speaker.