Bob Bromley

I would just say that this government has a strong focus on internal operations and we’re doing a good job there, but when we see a real opportunity for engaging the public and assisting them in taking on our goals and enjoying the benefits of it, we seem to fail. We have a record of failure there. As long as we continue to think that way, that’s the way it will be. This government will enjoy the costs or benefits that we’re getting but we won’t achieve the broad government goals because we’re a small part of northern society.

I understand the Minister’s comments and I say it’s not so much how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t hear a response to my question for a commitment to estimate the costs to government and the public. I’d still like that commitment. We clearly need to recognize our situation.

I’d like to know, in recognizing that the federal government has abandoned Kyoto and so on, can the Minister tell us what efforts he is making in partnership with other provincial, territorial and Aboriginal governments to push forward combined subnational efforts and I’d also like that commitment. Mahsi.

For several years we pushed for Public Works and Services to examine this division with the potential or the possibility of incorporating a wood pellet purchase, transport and storage distribution system. I was very pleased to see the department actually conduct research on that question and produce a fairly positive report on it. In the report they detailed that wood pellet heat in almost all of the roaded communities was in the order of 50 to 60 percent of fuel oil cost, so a huge savings to be had. Although there were other roaded communities, winter-roaded communities, where the most...

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. The Minister certainly is dead on there. We are doing lots of things. I think we are one of the most progressive jurisdictions.

Of course, we also have some of the greatest costs. I appreciate the Department of Transportation’s frankness in responding to some of my questions about what those costs are, recognizing that those are only partial costs if they are conservative, admittedly conservative costs, that they ignore the costs to the public and so on and that those costs are accelerating year to year.

I want to talk a little bit about the context...

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...

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...