Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I received a response Wednesday to my written questions to the Minister of Transportation’s climate change adaptation statement of May 31st. It contains some startling cost figures and is clearly a prophesy for the future.

I asked for information on a number of topics, including cost impacts on the road systems. A five-year-old conservative estimate sets the impact on roads to $1.2 million every year. Five-year-old figures aren’t too useful when Arctic sea ice melt estimates are withering faster than the ice.

Elsewhere the response tops up the bill: $300,000, for ferry...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Interesting discussion there. I guess my first question to the Minister is: Does he see a role for promotion of the arts by GNWT and do we currently display local artwork in government buildings?

Thanks again to the Minister. I’m very happy to hear that that analysis is being done. I also asked and pointed out where there were some possible federal resources for putting, say, 1 percent of the space available on the ground floor level so that the public and visiting public can experience northern art. That did not include the sale of art but it did include the performance, some small performance venues and this sort of thing. Has the Minister pursued those opportunities?

Yes, I’ll leave it at that, Mr. Chair, and I look forward to the briefing that the Minister has proposed, should committee take him up on that offer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and today I want to focus on the need for housing to help people get out of poverty.

Housing provides the basis for productive, dignified lives. The ability to cook, wash, get adequate rest, be called for a job, having a place for children to study and families to enjoy leisure are huge challenges when there’s no place to call home.

Research proves that lack of housing can double or even triple the cost of government services from reliance on emergency room medicines and overnight shelters to income...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question, really, if you don’t mind, Madam Chair, I’ll throw that out for the Minister’s wrap-up comments, but I’ve heard a couple of comments about carry-over and we haven’t actually read anything about carry-over. So if I could get clarification on what the carry-over was last year. I’m just looking at the numbers provided today and I see that our main estimates were $124 million last year, actuals or revised are almost double that: $240 million. I’m wondering if much of that – obviously Housing Corp might have 10 or 15 million dollars in there – but it seems...

I was told at my constituency meeting – the Minister talked about the vacant home ownership units – that people are being turned down for home ownership units because the income ceilings are unrealistic. Obviously, with up to 10 vacant units in a community as small as Ndilo/Detah, there’s something wrong with the program practicality. The Minister knows that. He just told us. Knowing that, let’s do something about it.

Will the Minister commit to review those guidelines again and consider means to place home ownership units or transfer them into the public housing stock, which I know he said he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. In my statement I outlined the desperate housing situation people are facing going into winter. There are 137 names on the Yellowknife Housing Authority waiting list, 500 across the territory, and several service organizations say that the situation is so bad it’s scaring them. There have been some good changes in our approach to housing, but the facts, unfortunately, show that things are just getting worse. The statistics essentially reflect an emergency.

I’m wondering what the Minister is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. I know the Minister realizes that housing is really the fundamental first step of getting people out of poverty. They need a basis to live and carry on their lives. This is so important.

I mentioned in my statement the new Transitional Rent Supplement Program and the current refusal to develop policy for people renting in boarding houses to access the program. With Yellowknife at less than a 1 percent vacancy rate in the residential market, will the Minister stop penalizing these people for the lack of housing choices and...

We have heard that answer before, yet here we have this situation where we have a huge waiting list that is building rapidly.

At my constituency meeting a couple of nights ago in Ndilo/Detah, I was told there are up to 10 vacant home ownership units in the community. Most are all still empty while un-housed people sit on these waiting lists, often because household income thresholds do not match reality. There are about 30 empty units in Behchoko for want of money to do repairs. We’ve been hearing about that for over a year now. Again, this is an emergency.

What steps will the Minister take now...