David Krutko

Mr. Speaker, I would like to, again, remind the Member that I have presented this to committee. We have given documentation out. Again, this will not see the light of day unless there is a pipeline. We have to work with our different parties that are out there, and that it is all hinging on a decision to go forward for a pipeline. Without that decision, we will not have this project.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the main component of the new mandate change is getting away from focusing on social housing and social issues, and getting into property management and expanding the properties that we do have. We want to find ways of partnering with different groups, individuals, and corporations, to try to leverage more funding from federal program dollars, CMHC. One of the main components we are working on is to ensure that we do have resources to manage. Because we are running this as a business, we have to be more proactive. I think the Member's concerns are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been working, in conjunction with the NWT Seniors' Society, and have been able to fund them through a grant in order to allow them to look at housing issues. Also, in regard to their partnership, there are other seniors' initiatives that are taking place, and I think that as a government we have to ensure that we include our seniors by way of consultation. We conduct annual meetings or even meet with the elders' groups and societies in a lot of our communities where we have elders' counsels and whatnot. I think that it is crucial that we do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the new mandate change, we are looking at using the same people that we presently have in house. We may expand in the area of land management because we don’t have any expertise in that area. So we may be seeing a slight increase there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government, we do encourage seniors to stay in their homes through tax rebates, fuel subsidies, and also that we, as a corporation, have implemented the seniors’ maintenance repair program and are having to deliver it through our LHOs to ensure that the seniors’ furnaces, water pumps, and tanks are maintained every year so that they know that they’re inspected. So we are delivering that program through the Housing Corporation. A lot of our programs in regard to emergency repairs and whatnot are basically structured to homeownership, but a lot of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this process, as I mentioned, has been going on for the last year. It’s not something that’s come up overnight. We have been working with the different boards and agencies, and also we are working with Education on how this is going to be laid out; how we are going to work with the different housing authorities; how we are going to deal with the management of the lands, the property that we have. We have not just brought this up overnight. It’s been in the works over the last year. I feel that Cabinet will have an in-depth review, and then we are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have had the chance to meet with the Tlicho leadership, and I have committed to them to do a tour of the Tlicho region with the Tlicho Government and local representatives of their government to ensure that we find a way to deal with housing in conjunction with each other. Also, going into each of the Tlicho communities, we are looking at possibly November or early December, whenever the time permits; but I have committed to the leadership, and to the Member I commit here today, that we are willing to go into the Tlicho communities in November.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have made a presentation to the committee, but it was looking more at some of the guiding principles we are following. I made a commitment to committee that we will go directly to committee once the mandate has been approved through Cabinet. We are hoping to take this to committee within the next few weeks. It is going to Cabinet this week, and hopefully we can take it to committee next week, if that’s possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the programs that are provided through the Housing Corporation are application-based programs. We have worked out different pilot projects in different communities with the First Nations' governments so that they can work with their membership to make these improvements; but a lot of these programs are based on need; and we definitely try to focus on those people in those conditions that the Member mentions. Again, it’s important for the public to realize that you have to fill out an application for these programs, and I think it’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been no contracting out. All the work has been done in house with the resources we do have. Thank you.