Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don’t see any item for the Avens facility. I thought we were going to support some kind of planning study for that infrastructure. Could I maybe get an update on where we’re at on that? Thank you.

Could we likely add the ongoing work with the Avens Seniors as a possible facility that we could put on the books at some point soon with that?

Thanks to the Minister for that information. Could I get the Minister to commit to bringing forward a strategy for meeting those needs over the long term – and specifically I’m talking about infrastructure needs – to committee once he’s got the numbers in a few weeks and has the opportunity to develop such a plan?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome to the Minister and staff here. I wanted to ask about, in a general sense, the long-term sense, assisted-living facilities, extended-care facilities across the Northwest Territories, and I believe it was the projections of the Avens Seniors’ Society that estimated an equal or greater than tripling of seniors needing care in the next 15 years. I’m wondering: Is that consistent with the Minister’s knowledge, and further to that, just to get the questions in here, what is our strategy for addressing the need, whatever the Minister’s estimate of it is, and are we on...

We learned that once you start, you have a hard time stopping. Workers and companies come from all over, and local people get priced out of their own communities.

We do need development, but it must be sustainable. Tomorrow I will explore what is the sustainability question here, and suggest an alternative economic development that benefits local economies and every single resident.

I will have questions today for the Minister of Environment. Mahsi.

I would be irresponsible not to ask about the plans for Detah and Ndilo. I don’t see any in the plans here for this coming fiscal year. I know there are needs certainly on the quality of housing, perhaps on the quantity as well. Could I get an indication from the Minister what the plan is for Weledeh?

Are we thinking of that? I mean, are we preparing to respond to that interest in smaller units?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a couple of things I wanted to follow up on. The Minister mentioned we passed up on investing in biomass for some housing we are developing in Fort Good Hope because of the lack of supply. Unfortunately, I heard the same thing from Education, or it might have been Public Works and Services in the same community just a year or two ago for their new school. This is a problem when we consider these things independently, ignoring other government facilities, and since the school project turned down biomass, we know we have a supply in Norman Wells, an adjacent...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that response. I wonder if the Minister would commit to giving committee a briefing on that and the contributions from the various measures we have been taking and a real look at… If our hopes are denied by the federal government, what are the realities and what progress are we making on our own at addressing those?

At the same time, I would just like to ask, the last couple of fiscal years, $14 million, almost $15 million each year, a little bit more last year than in this current fiscal year, and this year $31.4 million, a doubling. I’d like a quick...

Madam Chair, thanks to the Minister for those remarks. It is great to hear about the Ndilo/Detah projects. Those are this fiscal year rather than next. I look forward maybe to getting an update a year after they get operational so we can hear what lessons are being learned and applied. It sounds like there are not any more new ones being proposed for this coming fiscal year, but maybe the following fiscal year. Thank you. That is all I have.